Improved resource allocation for device to device (d2d) communication

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for allocating radio resources to a transmitting terminal for performing direct communication transmission over a direct link connection. The transmitting terminal receives a system information broadcast from the base station, which comprises information on a temporary transmission radio resource pool, indicating radio resources for performing a direct communication transmission, and comprises configuration information on the resource pool to limit the amount of time that the temporary radio resource pool is usable by the transmitting terminal.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to methods for allocating radio resourcesto a transmitting terminal for performing a direct communicationtransmission over a direct link connection with a receiving terminal.The present disclosure is also providing the transmitting terminal andbase station for participating in the methods described herein.

Description of the Related Art Long Term Evolution (LTE)

Third-generation mobile systems (3G) based on WCDMA radio-accesstechnology are being deployed on a broad scale all around the world. Afirst step in enhancing or evolving this technology entails introducingHigh-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and an enhanced uplink, alsoreferred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), giving a radioaccess technology that is highly competitive.

In order to be prepared for further increasing user demands and to becompetitive against new radio access technologies, 3GPP introduced a newmobile communication system which is called Long Term Evolution (LTE).LTE is designed to meet the carrier needs for high speed data and mediatransport as well as high capacity voice support for the next decade.The ability to provide high bit rates is a key measure for LTE.

The work item (WI) specification on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) calledEvolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and UMTS Terrestrial RadioAccess Network (UTRAN) is finalized as Release 8 (LTE Rel. 8). The LTEsystem represents efficient packet-based radio access and radio accessnetworks that provide full IP-based functionalities with low latency andlow cost. In LTE, scalable multiple transmission bandwidths arespecified such as 1.4, 3.0, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, and 20.0 MHz, in order toachieve flexible system deployment using a given spectrum. In thedownlink, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based radioaccess was adopted because of its inherent immunity to multipathinterference (MPI) due to a low symbol rate, the use of a cyclic prefix(CP) and its affinity to different transmission bandwidth arrangements.Single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) based radioaccess was adopted in the uplink, since provisioning of wide areacoverage was prioritized over improvement in the peak data rateconsidering the restricted transmit power of the user equipment (UE).Many key packet radio access techniques are employed includingmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel transmission techniquesand a highly efficient control signaling structure is achieved in LTERel. 8/9.

LTE Architecture

The overall architecture is shown in FIG. 1 and a more detailedrepresentation of the E-UTRAN architecture is given in FIG. 2. TheE-UTRAN consists of an eNodeB, providing the E-UTRA user plane(PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towardsthe user equipment (UE). The eNodeB (eNB) hosts the Physical (PHY),Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC) and Packet DataControl Protocol (PDCP) layers that include the functionality ofuser-plane header-compression and encryption. It also offers RadioResource Control (RRC) functionality corresponding to the control plane.It performs many functions including radio resource management,admission control, scheduling, enforcement of negotiated uplink Qualityof Service (QoS), cell information broadcast, ciphering/deciphering ofuser and control plane data, and compression/decompression ofdownlink/uplink user plane packet headers. The eNodeBs areinterconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface.

The eNodeBs are also connected by means of the S1 interface to the EPC(Evolved Packet Core), more specifically to the MME (Mobility ManagementEntity) by means of the S1-MME and to the Serving Gateway (SGW) by meansof the S1-U. The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relation betweenMMEs/Serving Gateways and eNodeBs. The SGW routes and forwards user datapackets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for the user planeduring inter-eNodeB handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTEand other 3GPP technologies (terminating S4 interface and relaying thetraffic between 2G/3G systems and PDN GW). For idle state userequipments, the SGW terminates the downlink data path and triggerspaging when downlink data arrives for the user equipment. It manages andstores user equipment contexts, e.g., parameters of the IP bearerservice, network internal routing information. It also performsreplication of the user traffic in case of lawful interception.

The MME is the key control-node for the LTE access-network. It isresponsible for idle mode user equipment tracking and paging procedureincluding retransmissions. It is involved in the beareractivation/deactivation process and is also responsible for choosing theSGW for a user equipment at the initial attach and at time of intra-LTEhandover involving Core Network (CN) node relocation. It is responsiblefor authenticating the user (by interacting with the HSS). TheNon-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling terminates at the MME and it is alsoresponsible for generation and allocation of temporary identities touser equipments. It checks the authorization of the user equipment tocamp on the service provider's Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) andenforces user equipment roaming restrictions. The MME is the terminationpoint in the network for ciphering/integrity protection for NASsignaling and handles the security key management. Lawful interceptionof signaling is also supported by the MME. The MME also provides thecontrol plane function for mobility between LTE and 2G/3G accessnetworks with the S3 interface terminating at the MME from the SGSN. TheMME also terminates the S6a interface towards the home HSS for roaminguser equipments.

Component Carrier Structure in LTE

The downlink component carrier of a 3GPP LTE system is subdivided in thetime-frequency domain in so-called subframes. In 3GPP LTE each subframeis divided into two downlink slots as shown in FIG. 3, wherein the firstdownlink slot comprises the control channel region (PDCCH region) withinthe first OFDM symbols. Each subframe consists of a give number of OFDMsymbols in the time domain (12 or 14 OFDM symbols in 3GPP LTE (Release8)), wherein each OFDM symbol spans over the entire bandwidth of thecomponent carrier. The OFDM symbols thus each consists of a number ofmodulation symbols transmitted on respective N_(RB) ^(DI)×N_(sc) ^(RB)subcarriers as also shown in FIG. 4.

Assuming a multi-carrier communication system, e.g., employing OFDM, asfor example used in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), the smallest unit ofresources that can be assigned by the scheduler is one “resource block”.A physical resource block (PRB) is defined as N_(symb) ^(DL) consecutiveOFDM symbols in the time domain (e.g., 7 OFDM symbols) and N_(sc) ^(RB)consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain as exemplified in FIG. 4(e.g., 12 subcarriers for a component carrier). In 3GPP LTE (Release 8),a physical resource block thus consists of N_(symb) ^(DL)×N_(sc) ^(RB)resource elements, corresponding to one slot in the time domain and 180kHz in the frequency domain (for further details on the downlinkresource grid, see for example 3GPP TS 36.211, “Evolved UniversalTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation(Release 8)”, section 6.2, available at http://www.3gpp.org andincorporated herein by reference).

One subframe consists of two slots, so that there are 14 OFDM symbols ina subframe when a so-called “normal” CP (cyclic prefix) is used, and 12OFDM symbols in a subframe when a so-called “extended” CP is used. Forsake of terminology, in the following the time-frequency resourcesequivalent to the same N_(sc) ^(RB) consecutive subcarriers spanning afull subframe is called a “resource block pair”, or equivalent “RB pair”or “PRB pair”.

The term “component carrier” refers to a combination of several resourceblocks in the frequency domain. In future releases of LTE, the term“component carrier” is no longer used; instead, the terminology ischanged to “cell”, which refers to a combination of downlink andoptionally uplink resources. The linking between the carrier frequencyof the downlink resources and the carrier frequency of the uplinkresources is indicated in the system information transmitted on thedownlink resources.

Similar assumptions for the component carrier structure apply to laterreleases too.

Carrier Aggregation in LTE-A for Support of Wider Bandwidth

The frequency spectrum for IMT-Advanced was decided at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07). Although the overall frequencyspectrum for IMT-Advanced was decided, the actual available frequencybandwidth is different according to each region or country. Followingthe decision on the available frequency spectrum outline, however,standardization of a radio interface started in the 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP). At the 3GPP TSG RAN #39 meeting, the StudyItem description on “Further Advancements for E-UTRA (LTE-Advanced)” wasapproved. The study item covers technology components to be consideredfor the evolution of E-UTRA, e.g., to fulfill the requirements onIMT-Advanced.

The bandwidth that the LTE-Advanced system is able to support is 100MHz, while an LTE system can only support 20 MHz. Nowadays, the lack ofradio spectrum has become a bottleneck of the development of wirelessnetworks, and as a result it is difficult to find a spectrum band whichis wide enough for the LTE-Advanced system. Consequently, it is urgentto find a way to gain a wider radio spectrum band, wherein a possibleanswer is the carrier aggregation functionality.

In carrier aggregation, two or more component carriers (componentcarriers) are aggregated in order to support wider transmissionbandwidths up to 100MHz. Several cells in the LTE system are aggregatedinto one wider channel in the LTE-Advanced system which is wide enoughfor 100 MHz even though these cells in LTE are in different frequencybands.

All component carriers can be configured to be LTE Rel. 8/9 compatible,at least when the aggregated numbers of component carriers in the uplinkand the downlink are the same. Not all component carriers aggregated bya user equipment may necessarily be Rel. 8/9 compatible. Existingmechanism (e.g., barring) may be used to avoid Rel-8/9 user equipmentsto camp on a component carrier.

A user equipment may simultaneously receive or transmit one or multiplecomponent carriers (corresponding to multiple serving cells) dependingon its capabilities. A LTE-A Rel. 10 user equipment with receptionand/or transmission capabilities for carrier aggregation cansimultaneously receive and/or transmit on multiple serving cells,whereas an LTE Rel. 8/9 user equipment can receive and transmit on asingle serving cell only, provided that the structure of the componentcarrier follows the Rel. 8/9 specifications.

Carrier aggregation is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguouscomponent carriers with each component carrier limited to a maximum of110 Resource Blocks in the frequency domain using the 3GPP LTE (Release8/9) numerology.

It is possible to configure a 3GPP LTE-A (Release 10) compatible userequipment to aggregate a different number of component carriersoriginating from the same eNodeB (base station) and of possiblydifferent bandwidths in the uplink and the downlink. The number ofdownlink component carriers that can be configured depends on thedownlink aggregation capability of the UE. Conversely, the number ofuplink component carriers that can be configured depends on the uplinkaggregation capability of the UE. It may not be possible to configure amobile terminal with more uplink component carriers than downlinkcomponent carriers.

In a typical TDD deployment, the number of component carriers and thebandwidth of each component carrier in uplink and downlink is the same.Component carriers originating from the same eNodeB need not to providethe same coverage.

The spacing between centre frequencies of contiguously aggregatedcomponent carriers shall be a multiple of 300 kHz. This is in order tobe compatible with the 100 kHz frequency raster of 3GPP LTE (Release8/9) and at the same time preserve orthogonality of the subcarriers with15 kHz spacing. Depending on the aggregation scenario, the n×300 kHzspacing can be facilitated by insertion of a low number of unusedsubcarriers between contiguous component carriers.

The nature of the aggregation of multiple carriers is only exposed up tothe MAC layer. For both uplink and downlink there is one HARQ entityrequired in MAC for each aggregated component carrier. There is (in theabsence of SU-MIMO for uplink) at most one transport block per componentcarrier. A transport block and its potential HARQ retransmissions needto be mapped on the same component carrier.

The Layer 2 structure with activated carrier aggregation is shown inFIG. 5 and FIG. 6 for the downlink and uplink respectively.

When carrier aggregation is configured, the mobile terminal only has oneRRC connection with the network. At RRC connectionestablishment/re-establishment, one cell provides the security input(one ECGI, one PCI and one ARFCN) and the non-access stratum mobilityinformation (e.g., TAI) similarly as in LTE Rel. 8/9. After RRCconnection establishment/re-establishment, the component carriercorresponding to that cell is referred to as the downlink Primary Cell(PCell). There is always one and only one downlink PCell (DL PCell) andone uplink PCell (UL PCell) configured per user equipment in connectedstate. Within the configured set of component carriers, other cells arereferred to as Secondary Cells (SCells); with carriers of the SCellbeing the Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC) and UplinkSecondary Component Carrier (UL SCC).

The configuration and reconfiguration, as well addition and removal, asof component carriers can be performed by RRC. Activation anddeactivation is done via MAC control elements. At intra-LTE handover,RRC can also add, remove, or reconfigure SCells for usage in the targetcell. When adding a new SCell, dedicated RRC signaling is used forsending the system information of the SCell, the information beingnecessary for transmission/reception (similarly as in Rel-8/9 forhandover).

When a user equipment is configured with carrier aggregation there isone pair of uplink and downlink component carriers that is alwaysactive. The downlink component carrier of that pair might be alsoreferred to as DL anchor carrier'. Same applies also for the uplink.

When carrier aggregation is configured, a user equipment may bescheduled over multiple component carriers simultaneously but at mostone random access procedure shall be ongoing at any time. Cross-carrierscheduling allows the PDCCH of a component carrier to schedule resourceson another component carrier. For this purpose a component carrieridentification field is introduced in the respective DCI formats, calledCIF.

A linking between uplink and downlink component carriers allowsidentifying the uplink component carrier for which the grant applieswhen there is no-cross-carrier scheduling. The linkage of downlinkcomponent carriers to uplink component carrier does not necessarily needto be one to one. In other words, more than one downlink componentcarrier can link to the same uplink component carrier. At the same time,a downlink component carrier can only link to one uplink componentcarrier.

LTE RRC States

LTE is based on only two main states: “RRC_IDLE” and “RRC_CONNECTED”.

In RRC_IDLE the radio is not active, but an ID is assigned and trackedby the network. More specifically, a mobile terminal in RRC_IDLEperforms cell selection and reselection—in other words, it decides onwhich cell to camp. The cell (re)selection process takes into accountthe priority of each applicable frequency of each applicable RadioAccess Technology (RAT), the radio link quality and the cell status(i.e., whether a cell is barred or reserved). An RRC_IDLE mobileterminal monitors a paging channel to detect incoming calls, and alsoacquires system information. The system information mainly consists ofparameters by which the network (E-UTRAN) can control the cell(re)selection process and also how the mobile terminal accesses thenetwork. RRC specifies the control signalling applicable for a mobileterminal in RRC_IDLE, namely paging and system information. The mobileterminal behaviour in RRC_IDLE is specified in more detail, e.g., in TS36.304, chapter 4 “General description of Idle mode” incorporated hereinby reference.

In RRC_CONNECTED the mobile terminal has an active radio operation withcontexts in the eNodeB. The E-UTRAN allocates radio resources to themobile terminal to facilitate the transfer of (unicast) data via shareddata channels. To support this operation, the mobile terminal monitorsan associated control channel which is used to indicate the dynamicallocation of the shared transmission resources in time and frequency.The mobile terminal provides the network with reports of its bufferstatus and of the downlink channel quality, as well as neighbouring cellmeasurement information to enable E-UTRAN to select the most appropriatecell for the mobile terminal. These measurement reports include cellsusing other frequencies or RATs. The UE also receives systeminformation, consisting mainly of information required to use thetransmission channels. To extend its battery lifetime, a UE inRRC_CONNECTED may be configured with a Discontinuous Reception (DRX)cycle. RRC is the protocol by which the E-UTRAN controls the UEbehaviour in RRC_CONNECTED.

The various functions of the mobile terminal in RRC Protocol for andincluding Connected Mode are described in 3GPP TS36.331 in Ch. 4“Functions”, incorporated herein by reference.

Uplink Access Scheme for LTE

For uplink transmission, power-efficient user-terminal transmission isnecessary to maximize coverage. Single-carrier transmission combinedwith FDMA with dynamic bandwidth allocation has been chosen as theevolved UTRA uplink transmission scheme. The main reason for thepreference for single-carrier transmission is the lower peak-to-averagepower ratio (PAPR), compared to multi-carrier signals (OFDMA), and thecorresponding improved power-amplifier efficiency and assumed improvedcoverage (higher data rates for a given terminal peak power). Duringeach time interval, Node B assigns users a unique time/frequencyresource for transmitting user data, thereby ensuring intra-cellorthogonality. An orthogonal access in the uplink promises increasedspectral efficiency by eliminating intra-cell interference. Interferencedue to multipath propagation is handled at the base station (Node B),aided by insertion of a cyclic prefix in the transmitted signal.

The basic physical resource used for data transmission consists of afrequency resource of size BW_(grant) during one time interval, e.g., asub-frame of 0.5 ms, onto which coded information bits are mapped. Itshould be noted that a sub-frame, also referred to as transmission timeinterval (TTI), is the smallest time interval for user datatransmission. It is however possible to assign a frequency resourceBW_(grant) over a longer time period than one TTI to a user byconcatenation of sub-frames.

UL Scheduling Scheme for LTE

The uplink scheme allows for both scheduled access, i.e., controlled byeNB, and contention-based access.

In case of scheduled access, the UE is allocated a certain frequencyresource for a certain time (i.e., a time/frequency resource) for uplinkdata transmission. However, some time/frequency resources can beallocated for contention-based access. Within these time/frequencyresources, UEs can transmit without first being scheduled. One scenariowhere UE is making a contention-based access is for example the randomaccess, i.e., when UE is performing initial access to a cell or forrequesting uplink resources.

For the scheduled access Node B scheduler assigns a user a uniquefrequency/time resource for uplink data transmission. More specificallythe scheduler determines

-   -   which UE(s) is (are) allowed to transmit,    -   which physical channel resources (frequency),    -   Transport format (Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS)) to be used by        the mobile terminal for transmission

The allocation information is signaled to the UE via a scheduling grant,sent on the L1/L2 control channel. For simplicity reasons this channelis called uplink grant channel in the following. A scheduling grantmessage contains at least information which part of the frequency bandthe UE is allowed to use, the validity period of the grant, and thetransport format the UE has to use for the upcoming uplink transmission.The shortest validity period is one sub-frame. Additional informationmay also be included in the grant message, depending on the selectedscheme. Only “per UE” grants are used to grant the right to transmit onthe UL-SCH (i.e., there are no “per UE per RB” grants). Therefore the UEneeds to distribute the allocated resources among the radio bearersaccording to some rules. Unlike in HSUPA, there is no UE based transportformat selection. The eNB decides the transport format based on someinformation, e.g., reported scheduling information and QoS info, and UEhas to follow the selected transport format. In HSUPA the Node B assignsthe maximum uplink resource, and UE selects accordingly the actualtransport format for the data transmissions.

Since the scheduling of radio resources is the most important functionin a shared channel access network for determining Quality of service,there are a number of requirements that should be fulfilled by the ULscheduling scheme for LTE in order to allow for an efficient QoSmanagement.

-   -   Starvation of low priority services should be avoided    -   Clear QoS differentiation for radio bearers/services should be        supported by the scheduling scheme    -   The UL reporting should allow fine granular buffer reports        (e.g., per radio bearer or per radio bearer group) in order to        allow the eNB scheduler to identify for which Radio        Bearer/service data is to be sent.    -   It should be possible to make clear QoS differentiation between        services of different users    -   It should be possible to provide a minimum bit rate per radio        bearer

As can be seen from above list one essential aspect of the LTEscheduling scheme is to provide mechanisms with which the operator cancontrol the partitioning of its aggregated cell capacity between theradio bearers of the different QoS classes. The QoS class of a radiobearer is identified by the QoS profile of the corresponding SAE bearersignaled from AGW to eNB as described before. An operator can thenallocate a certain amount of its aggregated cell capacity to theaggregated traffic associated with radio bearers of a certain QoS class.The main goal of employing this class-based approach is to be able todifferentiate the treatment of packets depending on the QoS class theybelong to.

(Broadcast) System Information Structure

In the 3GPP terminology, (broadcast) system information is also denotedBCCH information, i.e., it denotes the information carried on theBroadcast Control CHannel (being a logical channel) of the radio cell towhich the UE is connected (active state) or attached (idle state).

Generally, system information includes a master information block (MIB)and several system information blocks (SIBs). MIB contains controlinformation on each System Information Block. The control informationassociated to a respective SIB may have the following structure.Respective control information associated to a SIB may indicate theposition of the SIB on a transport channel (e.g., position in thetime-frequency plane for OFDM radio access, i.e., particular ResourceBlocks being assigned for transmission of a respective SIB) on which itis transmitted relative to common timing reference. Further, arepetition period of SIB may be indicated. This repetition periodindicates the periodicity at which the respective SIB is transmitted.The control information may also include a timer value for timer-basedupdate mechanism or, alternatively, a value tag for a tag-based updateof the SIB information.

The table below shows an overview of the categorization and types ofsystem information blocks in a UMTS legacy system as defined in 3GPP TS25.331, “Radio Resource Control (RRC)”, version 12.2.0, section 8.1.1,incorporated herein by reference). System information is also definedfor LTE systems, and details can be found in TS 36.331 V12.2.0 subclause6.3.1, incorporated herein by reference.

As will be explained in much more detail in later sections, aDevice-to-Device (D2D) communication technology is going to beimplemented for LTE-Rel. 12. Among many other things, the 3GPPstandardization is currently in the progress of defining the SystemInformationBlock Type 18 to contain some information related to ProSeDirect Communication and Discovery. The following definition of SIB18 istaken from the currently discussed change request R2-143565 for TS36.331 capturing agreements so far regarding ProSe, which however is notyet finally decided and is thus to be seen as a mere example.

SystemInformationBlockType18 information element -- ASN1STARTSystemInformationBlockType18-r12 ::= SEQUENCE { commConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{ -- FFS if the Rx resource pool can be provided by system informationcommSA-RxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL,-- Need OR commIdleTxPool-r12 SEQUENCE{ commSA-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12, -- FFS whether to signal data Tx resources(needed if not always be inferrable from -- the SA Tx resourcescommData-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL-- Need OR } OPTIONAL -- Need OR }, OPTIONAL, -- Need OR discConfig-r12SEQUENCE { discRxResourcePool-r12 ProseDiscResourcePool-r12,discIdleTxPool-r12 ProseDiscResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL -- Need OR }OPTIONAL, -- Need OR disclnterFreqList-r12 CarrierFreqList-r12 OPTIONAL,-- Need OR lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ... }CarrierFreqList-r12 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OFARFCN-ValueEUTRA-r9 -- ASN1STOP

SystemInformationBlockType18 field descriptions commIdleTxPool Indicatesthe resources by which the UE is allowed to perform direct communicationtransmissions while in RRC_IDLE. discInterFreqList Indicates theneighbouring frequencies on which direct discovery announcement issupported. discIdleTxPool Indicates the resources by which the UE isallowed to transmit direct discovery announcements while in RRC_IDLE.

As apparent from the above system information, the field commldleTxPool,including the sub-fields commSA-TxResourcePoolCommon indicates thecommon resources from which any of the UEs receiving the SIB18 and stillbeing in idle can use (in a contention-based manner). In other words,the network operator can commonly define radio resources for all of theUEs, which are however only usable while the UE is still in idle. Aswill be introduced later, these radio resources defined bycommldleTxPool are categorized as Mode 2 resources, for beingautonomously used by the UEs.

Buffer Status Reporting

The Buffer Status reporting procedure is used to provide the serving eNBwith information about the amount of data available for transmission inthe UL buffers of the UE. RRC controls BSR reporting by configuring thetwo timers periodicBSR-Timer and retxBSR-Timer and by, for each logicalchannel, optionally signalling logicalChannelGroup which allocates thelogical channel to an LCG. Further information on buffer statusreporting can be found in 3GPP TS 36.321 subclause 5.4.5, incorporatedherein by reference.

LTE Device to Device (D2D) Proximity Services (ProSe)

Proximity-based applications and services represent an emergingsocial-technological trend. The identified areas include servicesrelated to commercial services and Public Safety that would be ofinterest to operators and users. The introduction of a ProximityServices (ProSe) capability in LTE would allow the 3GPP industry toserve this developing market, and will, at the same time, serve theurgent needs of several Public Safety communities that are jointlycommitted to LTE.

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is a technology component forLTE-Rel. 12. The Device-to-Device (D2D) communication technology allowsD2D as an underlay to the cellular network to increase the spectralefficiency. For example, if the cellular network is LTE, all datacarrying physical channels use SC-FDMA for D2D signaling.

D2D Communication in LTE

The D2D communication in LTE is focusing on two areas: Discovery andCommunication.

In D2D communication UEs transmit data signals to each other over adirect link using the cellular resources instead of through the basestation (BS). D2D users communicate directly while remaining controlledunder the BS, i.e., at least when being in coverage of an eNB.Therefore, D2D can improve system performances by reusing cellularresources.

It is assumed that D2D operates in the uplink LTE spectrum (in the caseof FDD) or uplink sub-frames of the cell giving coverage (in case ofTDD, except when out of coverage). Furthermore, D2Dtransmission/reception does not use full duplex on a given carrier. Fromindividual UE perspective, on a given carrier D2D signal reception andLTE uplink transmission do not use full duplex, i.e., no simultaneousD2D signal reception and LTE UL transmission is possible.

In D2D communication when one particular UE1 has a role of transmission(transmitting user equipment or transmitting terminal), UE1 sends data,and another UE2 (receiving user equipment) receives it. UE1 and UE2 canchange their transmission and reception role. The transmission from UE1can be received by one or more UEs like UE2.

With respect to the User plane protocols, in the following part of theagreement from D2D communication perspective is given (see also 3GPP TR36.843 V12.0.0 section 9.2.2, incorporated herein by reference):

PDCP:

-   -   1:M D2D broadcast communication data (i.e., IP packets) should        be handled as the normal user-plane data.    -   Header-compression/decompression in PDCP is applicable for 1:M        D2D broadcast communication.        -   U-Mode is used for header compression in PDCP for D2D            broadcast operation for public safety;

RLC:

-   -   RLC UM is used for 1:M D2D broadcast communication.    -   Segmentation and Re-assembly is supported on L2 by RLC UM.    -   A receiving UE needs to maintain at least one RLC UM entity per        transmitting peer UE.    -   An RLC UM receiver entity does not need to be configured prior        to reception of the first RLC UM data unit.    -   So far no need has been identified for RLC AM or RLC TM for D2D        communication for user plane data transmission.

MAC:

-   -   No HARQ feedback is assumed for 1:M D2D broadcast communication    -   The receiving UE needs to know a source ID in order to identify        the receiver RLC UM entity.    -   The MAC header comprises a L2 target ID which allows filtering        out packets at MAC layer.    -   The L2 target ID may be a broadcast, group cast or unicast        address.        -   L2 Groupcast/Unicast: A L2 target ID carried in the MAC            header would allow discarding a received RLC UM PDU even            before delivering it to the RLC receiver entity.        -   L2 Broadcast: A receiving UE would process all received RLC            PDUs from all transmitters and aim to re-assemble and            deliver IP packets to upper layers.    -   MAC sub header contains LCIDs (to differentiate multiple logical        channels).    -   At least Multiplexing/de-multiplexing, priority handling and        padding are useful for D2D.

Radio Resource Allocation

From the perspective of a transmitting UE, a Proximity Services enabledUE (ProSe-enabled UE) can operate in two modes for resource allocation:

Mode 1 refers to the eNB-scheduled resource allocation, where the

UE requests transmission resources from the eNB (or Release-10 relaynode), and the eNodeB (or Release-10 relay node) in turn schedules theexact resources used by a UE to transmit direct data and direct controlinformation (e.g., Scheduling Assignment). The UE needs to beRRC_CONNECTED in order to transmit data. In particular, the UE sends ascheduling request (D-SR or Random Access) to the eNB followed by abuffer status report (BSR) in the usual manner (see also followingchapter “Transmission procedure for D2D communication”). Based on theBSR, the eNB can determine that the UE has data for a ProSe DirectCommunication transmission, and can estimate the resources needed fortransmission.

On the other hand, Mode 2 refers to the UE-autonomous resourceselection, where a UE on its own selects resources (time and frequency)from resource pools to transmits direct data and direct controlinformation. One resource pool is defined, e.g., by the content of SIB18(as introduced in a previous section), namely by the fieldcommIdleTxPool, this particular resource pool being broadcast in thecell, and then commonly available for all UEs in the cell still inRRC_Idle state. As an alternative, or in addition, another resource poolcan be defined by the eNB and signaled dedicatedly to the UE, namely byusing the field commTxResourcePool. Although not yet finally decided, acorresponding ProSe information element is currently being standardizedfor TS 36.331 according to the change request R2-143565.Correspondingly, the following definition is merely to be seen as anexample:

ProseCommConfig information element -- ASN1START ProseCommConfig-r12 ::=SEQUENCE { -- FFS if delta signalling should be supported for this IE --FFS if the Rx resource pool can be provided by dedicated signallingcommSA-RxResourcePoolDedicated-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL, -- Need OR commTxResourcePool-r12 SEQUENCE{ commTxPoolUse-r12ENUMERATED {normal, exceptional), commSA-TxResourcePoolDedicated-r12ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12, -- FFS whether to signal data Tx resources(needed if not always be inferrable from -- the SA Tx resourcescommData-TxResourcePoolDedicated-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL -- Need OR } OPTIONAL, -- Need OR ... } -- ASN1STOP

ProseCommConfig field descriptions commSA-RxResourcePoolDedicatedIndicates the pool of resources the UE shall monitor in order to receivescheduling assignments for Prose communication. commTxResourcePool Ifincluded, the UE is allowed to use the indicated resources in normal orexceptional conditions, depending on commTxPoolUse. If not included orwhen the conditions for use are not fulfilled, a UE that wants to startdirect communication involving transmissions has to request E-UTRAN toassign resources for each individual transmission, as specified in36.321 [6]. commSA-TxResourcePoolDedicated Indicates TBC.commData-TxResourcePoolDedicated Indicates TBC.

This ProSeCommConfig information element can be part of a networkresponse, transmitted by the eNB, in response to a corresponding requestby the UE that D2D communication is intended. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 16, the UE may transmit a D2D Communication InterestIndication to the eNB, in case the UE wants to perform D2Dcommunication. The D2D Communication Response (e.g., as part of theRRCCommunicationReconfiguration) then could, e.g., include theabove-mentioned ProseCommConfig information element.

Furthermore, the preconfigured radio resources available to a UE that isout of coverage of a cell of an eNB for D2D transmission of a SA ordata, may also be categorized as Mode 2 resources.

What resource allocation mode a UE is going to use is configurable bythe eNB, as explained above. Furthermore, what resource allocation modea UE is going to use for D2D data communication may also depend on theRRC state, i.e., RRC_IDLE or RRC_CONNECTED, and the coverage state ofthe UE, i.e., in-coverage, out-of-coverage. A UE is consideredin-coverage if it has a serving cell (i.e., the UE is RRC_CONNECTED oris camping on a cell in RRC_IDLE).

According to agreements so far in 3GPP (see change request to TS 36.300in R2-143672, section on resource allocation) the following rules withrespect to the resource allocation mode apply for the UE:

-   -   If the UE is out-of-coverage, it can only use Mode 2;    -   If the UE is in-coverage, it may use Mode 1 if the eNB        configures it accordingly;    -   If the UE is in-coverage, it may use Mode 2 if the eNB        configures it accordingly;    -   When there are no exceptional conditions, UE may change from        Mode 1 to Mode 2 or vice-versa only if it is configured by eNB        to do so. If the UE is in-coverage, it shall use only the mode        indicated by eNB configuration unless one of the exceptional        cases occurs;        -   The UE considers itself to be in exceptional conditions,            e.g., while T311 or T301 is running;        -   When an exceptional case occurs the UE is allowed to use            Mode 2 temporarily even though it was configured to use Mode            1.

While being in the coverage area of an E-UTRA cell, the UE shall performProSe Direct Communication Transmission on the UL carrier only on theresources assigned by that cell, even if resources of that carrier havebeen pre-configured, e.g., in UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card).

For UEs in RRC_IDLE the eNB may select one of the following options:

-   -   The eNB may provide a Mode 2 transmission resource pool in SIB.        UEs that are authorized for ProSe Direct Communication use these        resources for ProSe Direct Communication in RRC_IDLE;

The eNB may indicate in SIB that it supports D2D but does not provideresources for ProSe Direct Communication. UEs need to enterRRC_CONNECTED to perform ProSe Direct Communication transmission.

For UEs in RRC CONNECTED:

-   -   A UE in RRC_CONNECTED that is authorized to perform ProSe Direct        Communication transmission, indicates to the eNB that it wants        to perform ProSe Direct Communication transmissions when it        needs to perform ProSe Direct Communication transmission;    -   The eNB validates whether the UE in RRC_CONNECTED is authorized        for ProSe Direct Communication transmission using the UE context        received from MME;    -   The eNB may configure a UE in RRC_CONNECTED by dedicated        signalling with a Mode 2 resource allocation transmission        resource pool that may be used without constraints while the UE        is RRC_CONNECTED. Alternatively, the eNB may configure a UE in        RRC_CONNECTED by dedicated signalling with a mode 2 resource        allocation transmission resource pool which the UE is allowed to        use only in exceptional cases and rely on Mode 1 otherwise.

This behavior of the UE with respect to the resource allocation isillustrated in a simplified manner according to the state diagrams ofFIG. 7 and FIG. 8. FIG. 7 refers to the case where the UE is in theRRC_IDLE state, and differentiates between in-coverage andout-of-coverage. It should be noted that a UE which is inout-of-coverage and in RRC_IDLE can use the Mode 2 resource allocation.There are no exceptional cases at the moment defined for a UE inRRC_IDLE. On the other hand, FIG. 8 refers to the case where the UEs arein the RRC_CONNECTED state, and differentiates between in-coverage andthe exceptional case. As apparent, a connected UE being in anexceptional case can use the Mode 2 resource allocation.

FIG. 9 illustrates the use of transmission/reception resources foroverlay (LTE) and underlay (D2D) system.

Basically, the eNodeB controls whether UE may apply the Mode 1 or Mode 2transmission. Once the UE knows its resources where it can transmit (orreceive) D2D communication, in the current state-of-the-art, it uses thecorresponding resources only for the correspondingtransmission/reception. For example, in FIG. 9, the D2D subframes willonly be used to receive or transmit the D2D signals. Since the UE as aD2D device would operate in Half Duplex mode, it can either receive ortransmit the D2D signals at any point of time. Similarly, the othersubframes illustrated in FIG. 9 can be used for LTE (overlay)transmissions and/or reception.

Transmission Procedure for D2D Communication

The D2D data transmission procedure differs depending on the resourceallocation mode. As described above for Mode 1, the eNB explicitlyschedules the resources for the Scheduling Assignment and the D2D datacommunication after a corresponding request from the UE. Particularly,the UE may be informed by the eNB that D2D communication is generallyallowed, but that no Mode 2 resources (i.e., resource pool) areprovided; this may be done, e.g., with the exchange of the D2Dcommunication Interest Indication by the UE and the correspondingresponse D2D Communication Response as illustrated in FIG. 16, where thecorresponding exemplary ProseCommConfig information element mentionedabove would not include the commTxResourcePool meaning that a UE thatwants to start direct communication involving transmissions has torequest E-UTRAN to assign resources for each individual transmission.Thus, in such a case, the UE has to request the resources for eachindividual transmission, and in the following the different steps of therequest/grant procedure are exemplarily listed for this Mode 1 resourceallocation:

-   -   Step 1: UE sends SR (Scheduling Request) to eNB via PUCCH;    -   Step 2: eNB grants UL resource (for UE to send BSR) via PDCCH,        scrambled by C-RNTI;    -   Step 3: UE sends D2D BSR indicating the buffer status via PUSCH;    -   Step 4: eNB grants D2D resource (for UE to send data) via PDCCH,        scrambled by D2D-RNTI.    -   Step 5: D2D Tx UE transmits SA/D2D data according to grant        received in step 4.

A Scheduling Assignment (SA) is a compact (low-payload) messagecontaining control information, e.g., pointer(s) to time-frequencyresources for the corresponding D2D data transmissions. The content ofthe SA is basically in accordance with the grant received in Step 4above. The exact details of the D2D grant and SA content are not fixedyet but as a working assumption for SA content the following agreementswere achieved

-   -   Frequency resource is indicated by Rel-8 UL Type 0 resource        allocation (5-13 bits depending on System BW)    -   1 bit frequency hopping indicator (as per Rel-8)        -   some reinterpretation of the indexing is to be defined so            that hopping does not use PRBs outside the configured            resource pool for mode 2.    -   Only single-cluster resource allocations are valid        -   this implies that if there are gaps in the resource pool in            the frequency domain, a resource allocation shall not            straddle a gap    -   No RV indicator in SA        RV pattern for data: {0, 2, 3, 1}.

On the other hand, for Mode 2 resource allocation, above steps 1-4 arebasically not necessary, and the UE autonomously selects resources forthe SA and D2D data transmission from the transmission resource pool(s)configured and provided by the eNB.

FIG. 10 exemplarily illustrates the transmission of the SchedulingAssignment and the D2D data for two UEs, UE-A and UE-B, where theresources for sending the scheduling assignments are periodic, and theresources used for the D2D data transmission are indicated by thecorresponding Scheduling Assignment.

Resource Pool for Scheduling Assignment and D2D Data

The resource pool for Scheduling Assignment (SA) and D2D data when theUE is out-of-coverage can be configured as below:

-   -   The resource pool used for reception of SA is pre-configured.    -   The resource pool used for transmission of SA is pre-configured.

1The resource pool used for reception of D2D data is pre-configured.

-   -   The resource pool used for transmission of D2D data is        pre-configured.

The resource pool for Scheduling Assignment (SA) when the UE isin-coverage can be configured as below:

-   -   The resource pool used for reception of SA is configured by the        eNB via RRC, in dedicated or broadcast signalling.    -   The resource pool used for transmission of SA is configured by        the eNB via RRC if Mode 2 resource allocation is used    -   The SA resource pool used for transmission is not known to the        UE if

Mode 1 resource allocation is used.

-   -   The eNB schedules the specific resource(s) to use for Scheduling        Assignment transmission if Mode 1 resource allocation is used.        The specific resource assigned by the eNB is within the resource        pool for reception of Scheduling Assignment that is provided to        the UE.        UE Coverage states for D2D

As already mentioned before (see, e.g., FIG. 7 and FIG. 8), the resourceallocation method for D2D communication depends apart from the RRCstate, i.e., RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED, also on the coverage state ofthe UE, i.e., in-coverage, out-of-coverage. A UE is consideredin-coverage if it has a serving cell (i.e., the UE is RRC_CONNECTED oris camping on a cell in RRC_IDLE).

The two coverage states mentioned so far, i.e., in-coverage (IC) andout-of-coverage (OOC), are further distinguished into sub-states forD2D. FIG. 11 shows the four different states a D2D UE can be associatedto, which can be summarized as follows:

-   -   State 1: UE1 has uplink and downlink coverage. In this state the        network controls each D2D communication session. Furthermore,        the network configures whether UE1 should use resource        allocation Mode 1 or Mode 2.    -   State 2: UE2 has downlink but no uplink coverage, i.e., only DL        coverage. The network broadcasts a (contention-based) resource        pool. In this state the transmitting UE selects the resources        used for SA and data from a resource pool configured by the        network; resource allocation is only possible according to Mode        2 for D2D communication in such a state.    -   State 3: Since UE3 has no uplink and downlink coverage, the UE3        is strictly speaking already considered as out-of-coverage        (OOC). However, UE3 is in the coverage of some UEs which are        themselves (e.g., UE1) in the coverage of the cell, i.e., those        UEs can be also referred as CP-relay UEs, therefore the area of        the state 3 UEs in FIG. 11 can be denoted as CP UE-relay        coverage area. UEs in this state 3 are also referred to as        OOC-state 3 UEs. In this state the UEs receive some cell        specific information which is sent by the eNB (SIB) and        forwarded by the CP UE-relay UEs in the coverage of the cell via        PD2DSCH to the OOC-state 3 UEs. A (contention-based)        network-controlled resource pool is signalled by PD2DSCH.    -   State 4: UE4 is out of coverage and does not receive PD2DSCH        from other UEs which are in the coverage of a cell. In this        state, which is also referred to as state 4 OOC, the        transmitting UE selects the resources used for the data        transmission from a pre-configured pool of resources.

The reason to distinguish between state 3 OOC and state 4 OOC is mainlyto avoid potentially strong interference between D2D transmissions fromout-of coverage devices and legacy E-UTRA transmissions. In generalD2D-capable UEs will have preconfigured resource pool(s) fortransmission of D2D SAs and data for use while out of coverage. If theseout-of-coverage UEs transmit on these preconfigured resource pools nearcell boundaries, then, interference between the D2D transmissions andin-coverage legacy transmissions could have a negative impact oncommunications within the cell. If D2D-enabled UEs within coverageforwarded the D2D resource pool configuration to those out-of-coveragedevices near the cell boundary, then, the out-of-coverage UEs couldrestrict their transmissions to the resources specified by the eNode Band therefore minimise interference with legacy transmissions incoverage. Thus, RAN1 introduced a mechanism where in-coverage UEs areforwarding resource pool information and other D2D relatedconfigurations to those devices just outside the coverage area (state 3UEs).

The Physical D2D synchronization channel (PD2DSCH) is used to carry thisinformation about in-coverage D2D resource pools to the UEs in networkproximity, so that resource pools within network proximity are aligned.The detailed content of the PD2DSCH is not finalized yet though.

D2D Discovery

ProSe (Proximity based Services) Direct Discovery is defined as theprocedure used by the ProSe-enabled UE to discover other ProSe-enabledUE(s) in its proximity using E-UTRA direct radio signals via the PC5interface. FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a PC5 interface fordevice-to-device direct discovery.

The upper layer handles authorization for announcement and monitoring ofdiscovery information. For this purpose, UEs have to exchange predefinedsignals, referred to as discovery signals. By checking discovery signalsperiodically, a UE maintains a list of proximity UEs in order toestablish a communication link when it is needed. Discovery signalsshould be detected reliably, even in low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)environments. To allow discovery signals to be transmitted periodically,resources for discovery signals should be assigned.

There are two types of ProSe Direct Discovery: open and restricted. Openis the case where there is no explicit permission that is needed fromthe UE being discovered, whereas restricted discovery only takes placewith explicit permission from the UE that is being discovered.

ProSe Direct Discovery can be a standalone service enabler in adiscovering UE, which enables the discovering UE to use information froma discovered UE for certain applications. As an example, the informationtransmitted in ProSe Direct Discovery may be “find a taxi nearby”, “findme a coffee shop”, “find me the nearest police station” and the like.Through ProSe Direct Discovery a discovery UE can retrieve neededinformation. Additionally, depending on the information obtained, ProSeDirect Discovery can be used for subsequent actions in thetelecommunication system, such as, initiating a ProSe DirectCommunication.

ProSe Direct Discovery Models

ProSe Direct Discovery is based on several discovery models. An overviewis given in the following. The models for ProSe Direct Discovery aredefined in more detail in 3GPP TS 23.303 V12.1.0, section 5.3 which isenclosed herein by reference.

Model A (“I am here”)

Model A is also indicated as “I am here”, since the announcing UEbroadcasts information about itself, such as its ProSe ApplicationIdentities or ProSe UE Identities in the discovery message, therebyidentifying itself and communicating to the other parties of thecommunication system that it is available.

According to Model A, two roles for ProSe-enabled UEs that areparticipating in ProSe Direct Discovery are defined. ProSe-enabled UEcan have the function of Announcing UE and Monitoring UE. An announcingUE announces certain information that could be used by UEs in theproximity that have permission to discover. A Monitoring UE monitorscertain information of interest in the proximity of announcing UEs.

In this Model A the announcing UE broadcasts discovery messages atpre-defined discovery intervals, and the monitoring UEs that areinterested in these messages read them and process them.

Mode B (“who is there?”/“are you there?”)

This model defines two roles for the ProSe-enabled UEs that areparticipating in ProSe Direct Discovery:

-   -   Discoverer UE: The UE transmits a request containing certain        information about what it is interested to discover;    -   Discoveree UE: The UE that receives the request message can        respond with some information related to the discoverer's        request. Model B is equivalent to “who is there/are you there”        since the discoverer UE transmits information about other UEs        that would like to receive responses from. The transmitted        information can be, for example, about a ProSe Application        Identity corresponding to a group. The members of the group can        respond to said transmitted information.

According to this Model B, two roles for the ProSe-enabled UEs that areparticipating in ProSe Direct Discovery are defined: discoverer UE anddiscoveree UE. The discoverer UE transmits a request containing certaininformation about what it is interested to discover. On the other hand,the discoveree UE receives the request message and can respond with someinformation related to the discoverer UE's request.

The content of the discovery information is transparent to the AccessStratum (AS), which does not know the content of discovery information.Thus, no distinction is made in the Access Stratum between the variousProSe Direct Discovery models and types of ProSe Direct Discovery. TheProSe Protocol ensures that it delivers only valid discovery informationto AS for announcement.

The UE can participate in announcing and monitoring of discoveryinformation in both RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED state as per eNBconfiguration. The UE announces and monitors its discovery informationsubject to the half-duplex constraints.

Types of Discovery

FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram showing the IDLE and CONNECTED mode in thereception of discovery resources in D2D communication, and with regardto the resource allocation procedure.

D2D communication may either be network-controlled, where the operatormanages the switching between direct transmissions (D2D) andconventional cellular links, or the direct links may be managed by thedevices without operator control. D2D allows combininginfrastructure-mode and ad-hoc communication.

Generally, device discovery is needed periodically. Further, D2D devicesutilize a discovery message signalling protocol to perform devicediscovery. For example, a D2D-enabled UE can transmit its discoverymessage, and another D2D-enabled UE receives this discovery message andcan use the information to establish a communication link. An advantageof a hybrid network is that, if D2D devices are also in communicationrange of network infrastructure, network entities, like eNB, canadditionally assist in the transmission or configuration of discoverymessages. Coordination/control by the eNB in the transmission orconfiguration of discovery messages is also important to ensure that D2Dmessaging does not create interference with the cellular trafficcontrolled by the eNB. Additionally, even if some of the devices areoutside of the network coverage range, in-coverage devices can assist inthe ad-hoc discovery protocol.

At least the following two types of discovery procedures are defined forthe purpose of terminology definition used further in the description.

-   -   Type 1: A resource allocation procedure where resources for        announcing of discovery information are allocated on a        non-UE-specific basis, further characterized by:        -   The eNB provides the UE(s) with the resource pool            configuration used for announcing discovery information. The            configuration may be signalled in SIB.        -   The UE autonomously selects radio resource(s) from the            indicated resource pool and announces discovery information.        -   The UE can announce discovery information on a randomly            selected discovery resource during each discovery period.    -   Type 2: A resource allocation procedure where resources for        announcing of discovery information are allocated on a per UE        specific basis, further characterized by:        -   The UE in RRC_CONNECTED may request resource(s) for            announcing of discovery information from the eNB via RRC.            -   The eNB assigns resource(s) via RRC.        -   The resources are allocated within the resource pool that is            configured in UEs for monitoring.            The resources are, according to the Type 2 procedure, for            example allocated semi-persistently for discovery signal            transmission.

In the case UEs are in RRC_IDLE modus, the eNB may select one of thefollowing options:

-   -   The eNB may provide a Type 1 resource pool for discovery        information announcement in SIB. UEs that are authorized for        ProSe Direct Discovery use these resources for announcing        discovery information in RRC_IDLE.    -   The eNB may indicate in SIB that it supports D2D but does not        provide resources for discovery information announcement. UEs        need to enter RRC Connected in order to request D2D resources        for discovery information announcement.

For UEs in RRC_CONNECTED status, a UE authorized to perform ProSe DirectDiscovery announcement indicates to the eNB that it wants to perform D2Ddiscovery announcement. Then, the eNB validates whether the UE isauthorized for ProSe Direct Discovery announcement using the UE contextreceived from MME. The eNB may configure the UE to use a Type 1 resourcepool or dedicated Type 2 resources for discovery informationannouncement via dedicated RRC signalling (or no resource). Theresources allocated by the eNB are valid until a) the eNB de-configuresthe resource (s) by RRC signalling or b) the UE enters IDLE.

Receiving UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED monitor both Type 1 and Type2 discovery resource pools as authorised. The eNB provides the resourcepool configuration used for discovery information monitoring in SIB. TheSIB may contain discovery resources used for announcing in neighbourcells as well.

Radio Protocol Architecture

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a Radio Protocol Stack (AS) for ProSeDirect Discovery.

The AS layer interfaces with upper layer (ProSe Protocol). Accordingly,the MAC layer receives the discovery information from the upper layer(ProSe Protocol). In this context, the IP layer is not used fortransmitting the discovery information. Further, the AS layer has ascheduling function, according to which the MAC layer determines theradio resource to be used for announcing the discovery informationreceived from upper layer. In addition, the AS layer has the function ofgenerating Discovery PDU, according to which the MAC layer builds theMAC PDU carrying the discovery information and sends the MAC PDU to thephysical layer for transmission in the determined radio resource. No MACheader is added.

In the UE, the RRC protocol informs the discovery resource pools to MAC.RRC also informs allocated Type 2 resource for transmission to MAC.There is no need for a MAC header. The MAC header for discovery does notcomprise any fields based on which filtering on Layer 2 could beperformed. Discovery message filtering at the MAC level does not seem tosave processing or power compared to performing filtering at the upperlayers based on the ProSe UE-and/or ProSe Application ID. The MACreceiver forwards all received discovery messages to upper layers. MACwill deliver only correctly received messages to upper layers.

In the following it is assumed that L1 (PHY) indicates to MAC whether adiscovery messages has been received correctly. Further, it is assumedthat the Upper Layers guarantee to deliver only valid discoveryinformation to the Access Stratum.

D2D Synchronization

The main task of synchronization is to enable the receivers to acquire atime and frequency reference. Such reference may be exploited for atleast two goals: 1) aligning the receiver window and frequencycorrection when detecting D2D channels and 2) aligning the transmittertiming and parameters when transmitting D2D channels. The followingchannels have been defined in 3GPP so far for the purpose ofsynchronization:

-   -   D2DSS D2D Synchronization Signal    -   PD2DSCH Physical D2D Synchronization Channel    -   PD2DSS Primary D2D Synchronization Signal    -   SD2DSS Secondary D2D Synchronization Signal

Furthermore, the following terminology with respect to synchronizationwas agreed in 3GPP, and will be exemplarily used in the rest of theapplication.

-   -   D2D Synchronization Source: A node that at least transmits a D2D        synchronization signal. A D2D synchronization source can be        basically an eNB or a D2D UE.    -   D2D Synchronization Signal: A signal from which a UE can obtain        timing and frequency synchronization

D2D synchronization could be seen as a procedure which is similar to LTEcell search. In order to allow both NW control and efficientsynchronization for partial/outside coverage scenarios, the followingreceiver and transmitter synchronization procedures are currently underdiscussion within 3GPP:

Receiver Synchronization

The ProSe enabled UE regularly searches for LTE cells (according to LTEmobility procedures) and for D2DSS/PD2DSCH transmitted bySynchronization Source (SS) UEs.

If any suitable cell is found, the UE camps on it and follows the cellsynchronization (according to LTE legacy procedures).

If any suitable D2DSS/PD2DSCH transmitted by SS UEs are found, the UEsynchronizes its receiver to all incoming D2DSS/PD2DSCH (subject to UEcapabilities) and monitors them for incoming connections (SchedulingAssignments). It should be noted that the D2DSS transmitted by a D2DSynchronization Source that is an eNodeB shall be the Rel-8 PSS/SSS(Primary and Secondary Synchronization Signals). D2D SynchronizationSources which are eNodeBs have a higher priority than D2DSynchronization Sources which are UEs.

Transmitter Synchronization

The ProSe enabled UE regularly searches for LTE cells (according to LTEmobility procedures) and for D2DSS/PD2DSCH transmitted by SS UEs;

If any suitable cell is found, the UE camps on it and follows the cellsynchronization for D2D signals transmission. In such a case, thenetwork may configure the UE to transmit D2DSS/PD2DSCH following thecell synchronization.

If no suitable cell is found, the UE verifies if any of the incomingD2DSS/PD2DSCH may be relayed further (i.e., the max hop count has notbeen reac hed), then (a) if an incoming D2DSS/PD2DSCH that may berelayed further is found, the UE adapts its transmitter synchronizationto it and transmits D2DSS/PD2DSCH accordingly; or (b) if an incomingD2DSS/PD2DSCH that may be relayed further is NOT found, the UE acts asindependent synchronization source and transmit D2DSS/PD2DSCH accordingto any internal synchronization reference.

Further details on the synchronization procedure for D2D can be found inTR 36.843 V12.0.1, clause 7, incorporated herein by reference.

Cell Selection and RRC Connection Establishment

FIG. 15 illustrates in a simplified and exemplary manner the prior artmessage exchange between a UE and an eNB for selecting a cell andestablishing an RRC connection. Cell selection in step 2 is based, e.g.,on 3GPP TS 36.304, e.g., chapter 5.2.3 of V12.1.0, incorporated hereinby reference. A UE that is not camping on any WAN (Wide Area Network,e.g., LTE) cell is considered Out of Coverage. Cell Camping may be basedon the Cell Selection Criteria/Process as defined in Chapter 5.2.3 of3GPP TS 36.304 V12.1.0. Therefore, before completion of step 2, the UEis generally considered in Out of Coverage (OOC). Once the CellSelection is successful and the UE is camped (on a Suitable Cell or onan Acceptable cell), it is in RRC Idle state. UE Continues to be in RRCIdle state until step 7, i.e., until it receives RRCConnectionSetupmessage from the network, after which it changes to RRC Connected state.

BRIEF SUMMARY

One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides an improved methodfor allocating radio resources to a transmitting terminal for performinga direct communication transmission over a direct link connection, whichmay facilitate mitigating the problems discussed above. The independentclaims provide one non-limiting and exemplary embodiment. Advantageousembodiments are subject to the dependent claims.

In one general aspect, the techniques disclosed here feature a methodfor allocating radio resources to a transmitting terminal for performinga direct communication transmission over a direct link connection to areceiving terminal in a communication system. This method comprises thefollowing steps performed by the transmitting terminal: receiving from abase station a system information broadcast, which comprises informationon a temporary transmission radio resource pool, indicating radioresources usable by those transmitting terminals receiving the systeminformation broadcast for performing a direct communication transmissionto a receiving terminal over a direct link connection, and whichcomprises information on configuration information on the temporarytransmission radio resource pool, the configuration information limitingthe amount of time that the temporary transmission radio resource poolis usable by the transmitting terminal. A corresponding terminal andbase station for participating in the method are provided.

Correspondingly, in one general aspect, the techniques disclosed herefeature a transmitting terminal for performing a direct communicationtransmission over a direct link connection to a receiving terminal in acommunication system. The transmitting terminal is preconfigured with apreconfigured transmission radio resource pool, indicating radioresources usable by the transmitting terminal for performing the directcommunication transmission to a receiving terminal over the direct linkconnection, wherein the preconfigured transmission radio resource poolis usable when the transmitting terminal is in coverage of a cell of abase station.

Additional benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will beapparent from the specification and Figures. The benefits and/oradvantages may be individually provided by the various embodiments andfeatures of the specification and drawings disclosure, and need not allbe provided in order to obtain one or more of the same.

These general and specific aspects may be implemented using a system, amethod, and a computer program, and any combination of systems, methods,and computer programs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE FIGURES

In the following exemplary embodiments are described in more detail withreference to the attached figures and drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary architecture of a 3GPP LTE system,

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary overview of the overall E-UTRAN architectureof 3GPP LTE,

FIG. 3 shows exemplary subframe boundaries on a downlink componentcarrier as defined for 3GPP LTE (Release 8/9),

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary downlink resource grid of a downlink slot asdefined for 3GPP LTE (Release 8/9),

FIGS. 5 & 6 show the 3GPP LTE-A (Release 10) Layer 2 structure withactivated carrier aggregation for the downlink and uplink, respectively,

FIGS. 7 & 8 give an overview of the resource allocation mode(s) andtransitions between the resource allocation modes available to aterminal when in RRC_Idle, RRC_Connected, in-coverage andout-of-coverage of a cell,

FIG. 9 illustrates the use of transmission/reception resources foroverlay (LTE) and underlay (D2D) systems,

FIG. 10 illustrates the transmission of the Scheduling Assignment andthe D2D data for two UEs,

FIG. 11 illustrates that coverage regarding four different states theD2D UE can be associated to,

FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a PC 5 interface for device-to-devicedirect discovery,

FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram showing the idle and connected mode in thereception of discovery resources in D2D communication,

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a radio protocol stack for ProSedirect discovery.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary prior art message exchange between a UEand an eNodeB for selecting a cell and establishing an RRC connection,

FIG. 16 illustrates the exchange of the D2D Communication InterestIndication message and the corresponding D2D Communication Response,

FIG. 17 illustrates the exemplary movement of a UE at the edge of acell,

FIG. 18 is an extension of FIG. 15, exemplarily illustrating the priorart message exchange for selecting a cell, establishing an RRCconnection, UE-A indicating interest in D2D communication, andrequesting dedicated radio resources for a D2D communicationtransmission and additionally indicating various different time periods,

FIG. 19 illustrates the message exchange for a failed RRC connectionestablishment procedure,

FIG. 20 illustrates those periods where D2D communication transmissionis not possible for a UE,

FIGS. 21, 22 illustrate how the UE can apply T-RPT patterns to subframesfor Mode 1 respective Mode 2 resources.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be noted that the embodiments may be advantageously used forexample in a mobile communication system such as 3GPP LTE-A (Release10/11/12) communication systems as described in the Technical Backgroundsection above, but the embodiments are not limited to its use in thisparticular exemplary communication networks.

A mobile station or mobile node or user terminal is a physical entitywithin a communication network. One node may have several functionalentities. A functional entity refers to a software or hardware modulethat implements and/or offers a predetermined set of functions to otherfunctional entities of a node or the network. Nodes may have one or moreinterfaces that attach the node to a communication facility or mediumover which nodes can communicate. Similarly, a network entity may have alogical interface attaching the functional entity to a communicationfacility or medium over it may communicate with other functionalentities or correspondent nodes.

A “transmitting terminal” as used in the set of claims and in theapplication shall refer to a user terminal in the role of thetransmitter. A “receiving terminal” conversely shall refer to a userterminal in the role of the receiver. The adjective “transmitting” and“receiving” is only meant to clarify a temporary operation/role.

A “direct communication transmission” as used in the set of claims andin the application shall exemplarily refer to a device-to-device (D2D)communication as currently discussed for LTE release 12. The term“direct link connection” correspondingly shall exemplarily refer to aconnection or communication channel over the PC5 interface directlyconnecting two D2D user terminals which allows the exchange of datadirectly without the involvement of the network. In other words, acommunication channel is established between two user equipments in thecommunication system, which are close enough for directly exchangingdata, thereby bypassing the eNodeB (base station).

The term “radio connection establishment procedure” as used in the setof claims and in the application may be understood as including or notincluding the random access procedure. Correspondingly, initiating theradio connection establishment procedure can be understood as beingequivalent to transmitting a preamble of the random access procedure, oras being equivalent to transmitting the RRC Connection Request message.Correspondingly, in the context of 3GPP LTE, the radio connectionestablishment procedure may be the random access procedure followed bythe RRC connection establishment procedure.

The term “dedicated radio resources” as used in the set of claims and inthe application shall be understood as radio resources being assigned bya base station (eNode B) specifically to a particular terminal. Initself, the dedicated radio resources can be either a Mode 1 or Mode 2resource, as discussed in the background section. This term shall beseen in contrast to “common radio resources” which may be commonly usedby terminals in the cell; for instance, the transmission radio resourcepool defined by the system information (for example SIB18) is broadcastin the cell, and thus the same radio resources are available for use byterminals receiving this system information.

The expression “initiate a radio connection establishment procedure” andsimilar expressions shall be understood as that the terminal is requiredto try establishing a radio connection with the base station, howeverkeeping in mind that the radio connection establishment procedure mayfail. In other words, although the terminal is required to tryestablishing a radio connection, the terminal may only succeed ininitiating a corresponding radio connection establishment procedure butmay not succeed to continue the radio connection establishment procedureto successfully establish the radio connection. As such, this expressionshall be seen making this requirement of initiating a radio connectionestablishment procedure independent from the outcome, i.e., success(e.g., reception of RRC Connection Setup message) or failure (e.g.,reception of RRC Connection Rejection message) of establishing the radioconnection.

The expression of a “transmission radio resource pool being usable”,(and similar expressions) as used in the set of claims and in theapplication shall be understood in a broad manner such that resourcesmust not but can be selected from the transmission radio resource pooland be used by the terminal, in case the terminal would like to performa direct communication transmission (e.g., of a scheduling assignment ordirect communication data). Correspondingly, the expression of atransmission radio resource pool being used (and similar expressions),shall be understood in a broad manner such that the terminal indeedintends to perform a direct communication transmission and selectsappropriate resources from the transmission radio resource pool andperforms said direct communication transmission on said selectedresources.

The expression of “in coverage” as used in the set of claims and in theapplication is to be broadly understood as that a terminal is consideredin coverage if it has successfully selected a cell, independent fromwhether the terminal is in an idle or connected state. The cellselection criteria are defined in TS 36.304. All in-coverage UEs canreceive signaling from the network, either using the broadcast messages(in Idle state and in Connected State) or using dedicated (i.e.,one-to-one between the UE and the network) messages in Connected state.For example, a UE is considered in coverage if it has a serving cell(i.e., the UE is RRC_Connected or is camping on a cell in RRC_Idle). Theexpression “out of coverage” is thus to be understood conversely.

The term “preconfigured” as used in the set of claims and in theapplication is to be broadly understood in that the correspondingresources of the resource pool are known to the terminals even withoutreceiving any information from the radio access; i.e., a preconfiguredradio resource pool is available independently from the cells and thesystem information broadcast therein.

The term “radio resources” as used in the set of claims and in theapplication is to be broadly understood as referring to physical radioresources, such as time-frequency resources.

As explained in the background section, a UE can use different resourcesfor D2D direct communication with another UE, depending on its state andon the configuration by the eNB. The inventors have identified numerousproblems and disadvantages with the currently envisaged implementationof direct communication, i.e., 3GPP D2D communication. The followingdifferent scenarios and problems are present, and will be explained inconnection with FIG. 18. FIG. 18 which is an extension of FIG. 15,additionally illustrates the UE indicating interest in D2D communicationand the UE's request for dedicated radio resources for a D2Dcommunication transmission, as well as various different time Periods0,1, 2, A, B, C, and D. Although not illustrated in FIG. 18, the UE mayhave Mode 2 resources preconfigured when it is out of coverage of a cellfor SA and D2D data reception/transmission, as discussed in thebackground section.

An eNB can decide that in its network no Mode 2 resource allocation ispossible when the UE is in RRC idle. For purposes of explanation suchtype of networks are denoted Type A networks. In particular, in Type Anetworks, the UE sees in SIB18 that D2D is allowed, but since there areno common Mode 2 resources broadcast for the same (e.g., resource poolaccording to Mode 2), it must first establish an RRC connection (seeFIG. 15).Then, after being properly configured for D2D (e.g., using theD2D Communication Interest Indication, and corresponding D2DCommunication Response; see FIG. 16), it may have access to Mode 2resources for transmission (depending on how the UE is configured by theeNB, corresponding to the D2D Communication Response message). In casethe D2D Communication Response does not already provide usable resourcesfor D2D communication, e.g., as a dedicated Mode 2 resource pool, the UEmight even need to explicitly request D2D related resources usingdedicated signaling (Scheduling Request, Buffer Status Report), asdiscussed before in the background section (see steps 1-5 in chapterTransmission procedure for D2D communication), which takes more time(see Period C).

Even more, Period D as illustrated in FIG. 18 is the delay in sendingthe first D2D after receiving a corresponding D2D grant. While thismight be thought to be negligible, it may not be so, as calculations bythe inventors have shown; Period D alone can be about 300-400 ms,depending on the resource configuration like periodicity of resourcepool BITMAP for each SA and Data, their offset (say from SFNO), exactT-RPT (time resource pattern of transmission) allocated, etc.

Consequently, the UE cannot perform D2D communication in complete Period2, illustrated in FIG. 18, or even for Periods C and D in case the D2DCommunication Response from the eNB, although allowing D2D, does notprovide Mode 2 resources dedicated to the UE (in which case the UE needsto specifically request grant of resources for the particular D2Dtransmission).

Type A networks allow the network operator full control over the use ofresources since it would know how many UEs are performing D2D, and itmay thus partition the resources between D2D and LTE usage. However, aUE in such a Type A network is unable to perform any D2D communicationin idle state. Additionally, even after coming to RRC Connected state,the UE must send a D2D Communication Interest Indication message and atleast wait for an explicit network response to receive D2D communicationresources and further for the time until the actual transmission ofcommunication data can occur (Period C and/or Period D). This delay mayeasily add up to 2 seconds or more. Since in Rel. 12 the D2Dcommunication is mainly targeting public safety use cases, even a 2seconds delay/interruption is un-acceptable especially forVoIP/Voice/Conversational class of services. This is especially the casefor cell-edge UEs, which may be treading in and out between theout-of-coverage and in-coverage situation; see FIG. 17 for anillustration of an UE which is moving at the edge of the cell.

This problem is narrowly mitigated in the other type of networks, wherethe network deployment by the eNB provides for common Mode 2 D2Dcommunication resources to be used in RRC idle state; such a network canbe denoted for explanatory purposes Type B network. In such Type Bnetworks, the UE will start D2D communication using such Mode 2 idleresources after acquiring the SIB18 (containing the corresponding Mode 2idle resource configuration, e.g., commIdleTxPool), and thus earlierthan in Type A networks; thus, these UEs can perform D2D Datacommunication for a little while before facing again the interruption inPeriods B, C, and D. Consequently, although D2D communication is notpossible in Period 0, during Period A the UE can perform D2Dcommunication.

Nevertheless, also in Type B networks, a UE is prevented at particulartimes from performing D2D communication, thus causing undesired delaysand/or interruptions. The UE may continue to use the Mode 2 idleresources as long as it stays in RRC idle; the state of the art Mode 2idle resources from SIB 18 can only be used in RRC idle. However, whenthe UE establishes an RRC connection (for whatever reasons; e.g., forWAN reasons, e.g., to access the Internet) and thus changes into the RRCconnected state (see step 7 in FIG. 15), it may no longer use theseresources of the Mode 2 resource pool defined by SIB18 to continue orinitiate the D2D communication, i.e., as of step 7 of FIG. 15. In such acase, to resume a previously-started D2D communication or start a newD2D communication, the UE must at least send a D2D CommunicationInterest Indication message and wait for an explicit network response toreceive Mode 2 D2D communication resources (or even wait longer whenhaving to explicitly request grant of resources for the particular D2Dtransmission as discussed above in connection with steps 1-5 of thetransmission procedure for D2D communication). This leads to a delayand/or interruption in the communication; UE cannot perform D2Dcommunication in Periods B, C, (and D).

FIG. 20 shows the different Periods, introduced for FIG. 18, as blocks,and illustrates the difference between periods where D2D communicationtransmission is not possible for a UE, for Type A and Type B networks.

FIG. 19 is similar to FIG. 18, but illustrates a failed RRC connectionestablishment. As apparent therefrom, after initiating the RRCconnection establishment, it fails (e.g., because RRC connection isrejected by the eNB; other reasons such as Cell Reselection, or T300Expiry are possible too). The UE in any case stays in RRC idle state. InType A networks such situations are particularly disadvantageous, sincethe UE will not be able at all to perform D2D communication while beingin idle. For Type B networks on the other hand, D2D communication ispossible after SIB 18 acquisition, which includes the Mode 2 idleresource configuration; i.e., during A and further.

One clean solution for Type B networks (which is also easy to implement)is to allow the Mode 2 idle resources (commIdleTxPool) to also be usableby terminals in the RRC connected state; at least until the terminalsare assigned by the eNodeB with dedicated resources that are usable fordirect communication transmissions (see Period B+C (+D) of FIG. 18).

The following first and second exemplary embodiments are conceived bythe inventors to mitigate the problems explained.

In the following, several exemplary embodiments will be explained indetail. Some of these are supposed to be implemented in the widespecification as given by the 3GPP standards and explained partly in thepresent background section, with the particular key features asexplained in the following pertaining to the various embodiments. Itshould be noted that the embodiments may be advantageously used forexample in a mobile communication system such as 3GPP LTE-A (Release10/11/12) communication systems as described in the Technical Backgroundsection above, but the embodiments are not limited to its use in thisparticular exemplary communication networks.

The explanations should not be understood as limiting the scope of thedisclosure, but as a mere example of embodiments to better understandthe present disclosure. A skilled person should be aware that thegeneral principles of the present disclosure as laid out in the claimscan be applied to different scenarios and in ways that are notexplicitly described herein. Correspondingly, the following scenariosassumed for explanatory purposes of the various embodiments shall notlimit the disclosure as such.

First Embodiment

In the following a first set of embodiments will be explained. Tosimplify the illustration of the principles of the first embodiment,several assumptions are made; however, it should be noted that theseassumptions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of thepresent application, as broadly defined by the claims.

According to the first aspect, an additional transmission radio resourcepool is defined by the network operator for performing a directcommunication transmission, this additional resource pool beingdifferent in several ways from the idle transmission radio resource poolalready known from the prior art. As explained in the backgroundsection, if the network operator decides so, information on atransmission radio resource pool may be broadcast by the base station inits cell, such that terminals receiving said system informationbroadcast can autonomously use resources from said transmission radioresource pool in case they want to perform direct communication withanother terminal. The transmission radio resource pool from the priorart (termed for ease of reference idle transmission radio resource pool)is busable by the terminal while it is in an idle state, but not whenchanging its state to connected, causing some of the problems mentionedabove.

On the other hand, the additional transmission radio resource pool,introduced according to this first aspect (and termed for ease ofreference temporary transmission radio resource pool), shall be usedonly temporarily (i.e., for a limited amount of time) but independentlyfrom whether the terminal is in an idle state or connected state. Thenetwork operator is able to control the amount of time during which thistemporary transmission radio resource pool is usable by a correspondingadditional indication (configuration information) in the systeminformation broadcast. Limiting the usability of said temporarytransmission radio resource pool in time can be implemented in severaldifferent ways, some of which will be exemplarily explained further downbelow, but are consistent in that the time during which said temporaryresources can be used is limited and can be controlled by the basestation (i.e., network operator).

Network operators might be hesitant to make the idle transmission radioresource pool commonly available for terminals via the systeminformation broadcast, and rather prefer to assign particular dedicatedresource pools to particular terminals or even only particular dedicatedphysical resources to each terminal, so as to maintain full control overits radio resources (or at least as much control as possible).Consequently, the network operator might not want terminals in its cellto autonomously use the prior art idle transmission radio resource pool,for example because the terminal could use resources from this idletransmission radio resource pool almost indefinitely (as long as theterminal stays in idle state) or because then the network does not knowhow many UEs are actually using these Idle mode D2D resources since ithas no idea about the number of such UEs (Idle Mode UEs are not known atthe cell level but only at the Tracking Area level which is much largerthan a cell level); this does not allow the network to conclude if saidIdle mode D2D resources are too less (meaning lot of collision in D2Dresource usage) or too much (meaning un-necessarily eating away theotherwise LTE resources). The additional temporary transmission radioresource pool on the other hand allows the network operator to preciselydefine physical resources that are usable for a (more or less)configurable amount of time. This has of course the immediate benefitthat terminals may get access to resources for a direct communicationtransmission, as soon as the terminals receive and process thecorresponding system information broadcast with the information on thetemporary transmission radio resource pool, while the network operatorcan flexibly control the time such resources are commonly made availableto terminals in its cell. Since the amount/number of UEs establishingRRC Connection will be much limited to the total number of UEs in Idlemode in the cell, the additional temporary transmission radio resourcepool can be much efficient/smaller in size compared with the prior art(Mode 2) Idle transmission radio resource pool broadcasted in SIB18.Further, additional temporary transmission radio resource pool isespecially beneficial for terminals being in cells that indeed would notprovide such an idle transmission radio resource pool. But it is alsobeneficial for terminals in the other type of cells that indeedbroadcast the idle transmission radio resource pool, since in that caseresources for direct communication transmission are also available whenthe terminal is already in connected state but not yet having beenassigned dedicated resources by the base station for use in a directcommunication transmission or not yet having made the actualtransmission of D2D communication Data.

Overall, by providing the temporary transmission radio resource pool ofthe first aspect in the system information broadcast of a cell, insteador in addition to the prior art idle transmission radio resource pool, adelay or interruption of direct communication for the terminals isreduced or almost eliminated, while at the same time giving the networkoperator as much control as possible over such resources. Depending onthe particular implementation, in cells of a Type A network (i.e., notincluding the idle transmission radio resource pool in the systeminformation), terminals may use resources from the above discussedtemporary transmission radio resource pool after receiving same, i.e.,during Period A, Period B, Period C, and Period D as indicated in FIG.18. In cells of Type B networks terminals may use resources from thetemporary transmission radio resource pool during Periods B+C+D.

Further implementations of the first aspect relate to how theconfiguration information can limit the amount of time that thetemporary transmission radio resource pool is usable by the transmittingterminals in the cell. For instance, the system information broadcastmight directly indicate an appropriate amount of time, e.g., 10 ms, 100ms, 2000 ms, for the temporary transmission radio resource pool. Then,depending on the particular implementation, this indicated amount oftime would be interpreted by the terminal in that the temporarytransmission radio resource pool is usable for this particular timeafter, e.g., the reception of the system information broadcast.Alternatively, instead of starting a timer when the terminal receivesthe system information broadcast, the timer could be started when thetransmitting terminal starts using the temporary transmission radioresource pool (e.g., by transmitting a scheduling assignment in a directcommunication transmission to another terminal). In any case, this hasthe particular benefit that such a configuration is independent from theradio connection establishment procedure and its outcome and is thuspredictable by the base station.

As an alternative, or in addition, to directly indicating the amount oftime, the time where the temporary transmission radio resource pool isusable can be limited “indirectly”, by specifying particularconditions/events which stop the terminal from using said resourcesanymore. For instance, the system information broadcast could include aninstruction in connection with the temporary transmission radio resourcepool that a terminal wanting to use these resources must also tryestablishing a radio connection with the base station so as to avoid theterminal to stay in idle indefinitely using such resources. Then, theterminal is for instance only allowed to use resources from saidtemporary transmission radio resource pool until the connection isestablished and the base station assigns dedicated radio resources tothe terminal, which shall then be used instead for a possible directcommunication transmission (see Period A+B+C in FIG. 18); or if theconnection cannot be established or is rejected, until the terminal isinformed about this establishment failure (see Period A in FIG. 19); orthe base station at that point, although establishing a connection withthe terminal, may not permit the terminal to perform a directcommunication transmission (see Period A+B in FIG. 18). Further still,in view of the long time it may take a terminal to actually usededicated radio resource assigned by the base station to the terminal, afurther alternative might extend the time that the temporarytransmission radio resource pool is usable, until the point of timewhere the terminal (after establishing a radio connection with the basestation and receiving from the base station dedicated radio resourcesfor a direct communication transmission) actually performs a directcommunication transmission of the SA or data using these dedicated radioresources assigned by the base station to the terminal (see PeriodA+B+C+D in FIG. 18).

The actual instruction to establish the connection could for instanceindicate a particular amount of time within which the terminal needs to(at least) have started the connection establishment (starting, e.g.,directly after receiving the system information broadcast or afterstarting to use the temporary transmission radio resource pool). Stillanother option is that the terminal is even required to initiate theconnection establishment before being allowed to use radio resourcesfrom the temporary transmission radio resource pool for a directcommunication transmission. For the present purpose, it may exemplarilybe understood that the terminal starts the connection establishment withthe base station by transmitting a preamble of a random accessprocedure.

In addition, for the first aspect, as is the case for the idletransmission radio resource pool of the prior art, the temporarytransmission radio resource pool may differentiate between resourcesavailable for a direct communication transmission of a schedulingassignment and resources available for a direct communicationtransmission of direct data to another terminal over the direct link.Thus, the cell can provide different resources to be used fortransmitting scheduling assignments and data.

Several different implementations of the first aspect have beendescribed above. In the following, the principles behind the firstaspect and its implementations are applied in an exemplary manner to anLTE system (such as the one described in the background section).

In particular, current 3GPP standardization envisages the use of SIB18to contain some information related to the ProSe direct communicationand discovery. Consequently, the information on the temporarytransmission radio resource pool and its configuration information asdescribed above can be made part of this SIBType 18. Of course, itshould be noted that for the purposes of this first aspect, any othertype of system information block can be used to carry this information.Furthermore, in the particular example chosen the field in the systeminformation block to carry the temporary transmission radio resourcepool and the configuration information is termed “commTxPoolTemp”.Again, it should be noted that for the purposes of this aspect, anyother name for the field can be chosen or the information on thetemporary transmission radio resource pool can be inserted into adifferent field from the corresponding configuration information. Thesame applies to the names and formats chosen for the particularvariables commSA-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp,commData-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp. Correspondingly, the followingdefinition of the system information block type 18 information elementis to be taken as a mere example.

SystemInformationBlockType18 information element -- ASN1STARTSystemInformationBlockType18-r12 ::= SEQUENCE{ commConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{-- FFS if the Rx resource pool can be provided by system informationcommSA-RxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL,-- Need OR commIdleTxPool-r12  SEQUENCE{ commSA-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12, -- FFS whether to signal data Tx resources(needed if not always be inferrable from -- the SA Tx resourcescommData-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL-- Need OR } OPTIONAL -- Need OR commTxPoolTemp-r12 SEQUENCE{commSA-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12,commData-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL -- Need OR allowedTime ENUMERATED{ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms600, ms1000, ms1500, ms2000}. } OPTIONAL-- Need OR }, OPTIONAL, -- Need OR discConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{discRxResourcePool-r12 ProseDiscResourcePool-r12, discIdleTxPool-r12ProseDiscResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL -- Need OR } OPTIONAL, -- Need ORdiscInterFreqList-r12 CarrierFreqList-r12 OPTIONAL, -- Need ORlateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING  OPTIONAL, ... }CarrierFreqList-r12 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OFARFCN-ValueEUTRA-r9 -- ASN1STOP

SystemInformationBlockType18 field descriptions commIdleTxPool Indicatesthe resources by which the UE is allowed to perform direct communicationtransmissions while in RRC_IDLE. discInterFreqList Indicates theneighbouring frequencies on which direct discovery announcement issupported. discIdleTxPool Indicates the resources by which the UE isallowed to transmit direct discovery announcements while in RRC_IDLE.commTxPoolTempIndicates the resources by which the UE is allowed to perform directcommunication transmissions while in RRC IDLE but it may only usethese resources until allowedTime.

The important changes introduced into this exemplary system informationblock type 18 information element for the first aspect vis-a-vis theprior art are made bold and underlined for ease of identification. Asapparent therefrom, in this particular example the configurationinformation is implemented as the variable “allowedTime”, with exemplarytime values of 100ms, 200ms, etc., as shown above, thus directlylimiting the amount of time. Of course, the particular time values, andalso the number of time values that are configurable, are to beunderstood as a mere example; any other time values and number ofconfigurable time values may be chosen as appropriate. By reading thevalue indicated by the “allowedTime” variable, the terminal candetermine for how long the temporary transmission radio resource pool isusable after the reception of the system information broadcast (or afterthe terminal starts using resources from the temporary transmissionradio resource pool for performing a direct communication); acorresponding timer can be set up, and started and monitored by the UE.

As a further alternative, another example is given below for thedefinition of SIB18. As with the above exemplary definition, any namesgiven to variables, and also particular values given to the variablescan be seen as mere examples.

SystemInformationBlockType18 information element -- ASN1STARTSystemInformationBlockType18-r12 ::= SEQUENCE{  commConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{  -- FFS if the Rx resource pool can be provided by systeminformation commSA-RxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL, -- Need OR commIdleTxPool-r12  SEQUENCE{ commSA-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12  ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12,  -- FFSwhether to signal data Tx resources (needed if not always be inferrablefrom  -- the SA Tx resources  commData-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL -- Need OR } OPTIONAL  -- NeedOR commTxPoolTemp-r12   SEQUENCE{   commSA-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp-r12ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12,   commData-TxResourcePoolCommonTemp-r12ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL -- Need OR  timeToInitiateRRCConnEst    ENUMERATED{  ms01, ms05, ms10, alreadyInitiated}, } OPTIONAL  -- Need OR  },OPTIONAL,  -- Need OR  discConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{ discRxResourcePool-r12ProseDiscResourcePool-r12, discIdleTxPool-r12 ProseDiscResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL -- Need OR  } OPTIONAL,  -- Need OR  discInterFreqList-r12 CarrierFreqList-r12 OPTIONAL, -- Need OR  lateNonCriticalExtensionOCTET STRING  OPTIONAL,  ... } CarrierFreqList-r12 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxFreq)) OF ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-r9 -- ASN1STOP

SystemInformationBlockType18 field descriptions commIdleTxPool Indicatesthe resources by which the UE is allowed to perform direct communicationtransmissions while in RRC_IDLE. discInterFreqList Indicates theneighbouring frequencies on which direct discovery announcement issupported. discIdleTxPool Indicates the resources by which the UE isallowed to transmit direct discovery announcements while in RRC_IDLE.commTxPoolTempIndicates the resources by which the UE is allowed to perform directcommunication transmissions while in RRC IDLE but it must alsosubsequently or even already start initiating the RRC ConnectionEstablishment Procedure i.e. initiate the PRACH access.timeToInitiateRRCConnEstTime within which the UE must start the RRC Connection EstablishmentProcedure i.e. initiate the PRACH access. ms01 indicates 1 ms, ms05indicates 5 ms and so on. The value ‘alreadyInitiated’ indicates thatthe UE can only use the commTxPoolTemp after having initiated theRRC Connection Establishment Procedure e.g. upon having initiatedthe PRACH access.

The important changes introduced into this exemplary system informationblock type 18 information element for the first aspect vis-à-vis theprior art are made bold and underlined for ease of identification. Asapparent from the above, the configuration variabletimeTolnitiateRRCConnEst is included so as to indirectly limit the usageof the temporary transmission radio resource pool (i.e. commTxPoolTemp)based on the different exit conditions as will be explained. By use ofthis configuration variable timeTolnitiateRRCConnEst, the UE isinstructed to try establishing an RRC connection with the eNB, within anexemplary time of 1, or 5 ms, etc., as shown above. Depending ondifferent UE behavior, the UE could for example be then allowed to usethe resources of the temporary transmission radio resource pool untilthe RRC connection is established and the eNB assigns dedicated radioresources to the terminal; or until the UE realizes that the RRCconnection establishment fails; or until the UE is informed by the eNBthat it is not permitted to perform direct communication in the cell; oruntil actually performing a direct communication of the SA or data usingthe dedicated resources assigned by the eNB to the UE.

It should also be noted that this new field, commTxPoolTemp, is madeoptional in SIB18, thus giving control to the network operator to decidewhether to broadcast same in the cell or not. As a result, since thefield commIdleTxPool (already defined in the state-of-the-art) is alsooptional, the network operator (via the eNB) can configure none, one of,or both of the fields comm IdleTxPool and commTxPoolTemp, as needed.

Of course, also a combination of the above-shown SIB 18 definitions ispossible, allowing a configuration where the commTxPoolTemp fieldincludes the variables “allowedTime” and “timeTolnitiateRRCConnEst”.

Second Embodiment

A second aspect of the disclosure also solves the above-mentionedunderlying problem(s) of the prior art, however in a different manner.Instead of defining an additional transmission radio resource pool inthe system information broadcast as done for the first aspect, thissecond aspect is based on the idea of using a preconfigured transmissionradio resource pool for a possible direct communication transmission,not only when the terminal is out of coverage of a cell (as currentlydefined in the prior art), but also when the terminal is in the coverageof a cell. Preconfigured in this context shall be differentiated fromthose “configured” resources configured by the system informationbroadcast from the base station. In other words, preconfigured resourcesare for instance known to the terminals (and base stations) even withoutreceiving any information from the radio access, i.e., being independentfrom the cells and the system information broadcast therein. As such,preconfigured radio resources are in the state of the art already usedby the UEs that are out of coverage of a cell, i.e., have not receivedany system information broadcast from the base station of any cell.

For example, a preconfigured transmission radio resource pool can bedefined by the network operator and hard-coded into a common sim/USIMcard, which is insertable and usable by most common mobile phones.Alternatively, higher-layer signalling could be used to provide aterminal with appropriate information on such a preconfiguredtransmission radio resource pool; e.g., from the core network via theInternet protocol or non-access-stratum protocol.

By using radio resources from a preconfigured transmission radioresource pool also when being in coverage of a cell, the terminal canperform a direct communication transmission independent from whether itreceives the system information broadcast, from whether the systeminformation broadcast includes or not information on a resource pool,from whether a radio connection is established or not, from which statethe terminal is in (idle or connected), etc. Thus, the terminal is notprevented, delayed or interrupted with regard to a direct communicationtransmission. Therefore, and in contrast to the first embodiment,according to the second aspect, terminals may also perform directcommunication in Period 0; in addition to Periods A, B, C, and D.

One option is to re-configure the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool already defined in the state-of-the-art forout-of-coverage terminals so as to also apply to terminals that are incoverage of a cell of the base station.

On the other hand, an alternative option would be to configure a newin-coverage preconfigured transmission radio resource pool in additionto that preconfigured transmission radio resource pool already definedin the state-of-the-art for out-of-coverage terminals, the in-coveragepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool applying to terminalsthat are in coverage but not usable for those terminals still being outof coverage of the cell of the base station. In this case, both theout-of-coverage preconfigured transmission radio resource pool of thestate-of-the-art as well as the in coverage preconfigured transmissionradio resource pool according to the second aspect can be stored on thesim/USIM card or alternatively can be defined by higher layer signaling,as mentioned above.

In a further advancement of the second aspect, the network operatorshall have some control on whether this preconfigured transmission radioresource pool (even though same is preconfigured for a particularterminal) is actually usable in its cell. For instance, the networkoperator could decide that in its cell those resources of thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool shall not be available tothe terminals. To said end, the system information broadcast shallproperly indicate whether the terminals that are in coverage of the cellare allowed or not to use it.

One simple possibility for this indication is a one-bit flag in thesystem information, one bit value indicating allowance, and the otherbit value indicating that use of the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool is not allowed for terminals in the coverage of the cell.

Alternatively, the system information may optionally includeconfiguration information for the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool, such that in the absence of the configuration informationthe terminal understands that the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool shall not be used. On the other hand, when theconfiguration information on the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool is present in the system information and thus received bya terminal attaching to the cell, the terminal understands that it cancontinue using the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool fordirect communication transmissions, but in addition applies saidconfiguration information on the usage of same.

The configuration information can vary. For instance, according toimprovements for the second aspect, it is beneficial to also restrictusage of said preconfigured transmission radio resource pool in timewhile being in coverage of the cell. As discussed with the first aspectthere are several possibilities on how to limit the amount of time aparticular radio resource pool is usable for a terminal. Theconfiguration information for the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool can thus be similar, or identical to the one discussedabove for the temporary transmission radio resource pool.

In detail, the system information broadcast might for example directlyindicate an appropriate amount of time, e.g., 10 ms, 100 ms, 2000 ms,for the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool. Then, dependingon the particular implementation, this indicated amount of time would beinterpreted by the terminal in that the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool is usable for this particular time after, e.g., thereception of the system information broadcast. Alternatively, instead ofstarting a timer when the terminal receives the system informationbroadcast, the timer could be started when the transmitting terminalstarts using the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool (e.g.,by transmitting a scheduling assignment in a direct communicationtransmission to another terminal).

As an alternative, or in addition, to directly indicating the amount oftime, the time where the preconfigured transmission radio resource poolis usable can be limited “indirectly”, by specifying particularconditions/events which stop the terminal from using said resourcesanymore. For instance, the system information broadcast could include aninstruction associated with the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool that a terminal wanting to use these resources must alsotry establishing a radio connection with the base station so as to avoidthe terminal to stay in idle indefinitely using such resources. Then,the terminal is for instance only allowed to use resources from saidpreconfigured transmission radio resource pool until the connection isestablished and the base station assigns dedicated radio resources tothe terminal, which shall then be used instead for a possible directcommunication transmission (see Period 0+A+B+C in FIG. 18); or if theconnection cannot be established or is rejected, until the terminal isinformed about this establishment failure (see Period 0+A in FIG. 19);or the base station at that point, although establishing a connectionwith the terminal, may not permit the terminal to perform a directcommunication transmission (see Period 0+A+B in FIG. 18). Further still,in view of the long time it may take a terminal to actually usededicated radio resource assigned by the base station to the terminal, afurther alternative might extend the time that the preconfiguredtransmission radio resource pool is usable, until the point of timewhere the terminal (after establishing a radio connection with the basestation and receiving from the base station dedicated radio resourcesfor a direct communication transmission) actually performs a directcommunication transmission of the SA or data using these dedicated radioresources assigned by the base station to the terminal (see Period0+A+B+C+D in FIG. 18).

The actual instruction to establish the connection could for instanceindicate a particular amount of time within which the terminal needs to(at least) have started the connection establishment (starting, e.g.,directly after receiving the system information broadcast or afterstarting to use the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool).Still another option is that the terminal is even required to initiatethe connection establishment before being allowed to use radio resourcesfrom the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool for a directcommunication transmission. For the present purpose, it may exemplarilybe understood that the terminal starts the connection establishment withthe base station by transmitting a preamble of a random accessprocedure.

The preconfigured transmission radio resource pool can define the actualphysical radio resources (i.e., time and frequency), and may optionallyalso define a particular transmission format or power associated withthe physical radio resources. Also, when the terminal is in-coverage anduses the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool for a directcommunication transmission power for those transmissions may becontrolled by the base station (in a usual manner).

Several different implementations of the second aspect have beendescribed above. In the following, the principles behind the secondaspect and its implementations are applied in an exemplary manner to anLTE system (such as the one described in the background section).

According to some implementations discussed above for the second aspect,the system information broadcast from the base station is adapted so asto allow/disallow usage of the preconfigured transmission radio resourcepool when being in coverage and/or to configure its usage.

As mentioned for the first aspect, current 3GPP standardizationenvisages the use of SIB18 to contain some information related to theProSe direct communication and discovery, and could carry the flag orconfiguration information, mentioned above. Of course, it should benoted that for the purposes of this second aspect, any other type ofsystem information block can be used to carry this information. In thefollowing a very specific example is given where the configuration andconfiguration variables are given particular names (i.e.,usePreconfigResInCoverage, allowedTime, timeToInitiateRRCConnEst), andthe variables are set up specifically (i.e., ms100, ms200, ms300, etc.,ms01, ms05, etc.). Again, it should be noted that for the purposes ofthis second aspect, any other name for the fields can be chosen, andalso the actual values for the variables can be different.

SystemInformationBlockType18 information element -- ASN1STARTSystemInformationBlockType18-r12 ::= SEQUENCE{ commConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{-- FFS if the Rx resource pool can be provided by system informationcommSA-RxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL,-- Need OR commldleTxPool-r12 SEQUENCE { commSA-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12ProseCommSA-ResourcePool-r12, -- FFS whether to signal data Tx resources(needed if not always be inferrable from -- the SA Tx resourcescommData-TxResourcePoolCommon-r12 ProseCommDataResourcePool-r12 OPTIONAL-- Need OR } OPTIONAL -- Need OR usePreconfigResInCoverage-r12 SEQUENCE{allowedTime ENUMERATED{ ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms600, ms1000,ms1500, ms2000}, OPTIONAL timeToInitiateRRCConnEst ENUMERATED{ms01, ms05, ms10, alreadyInitiated} OPTIONAL } OPTIONAL -- Need OR },OPTIONAL, -- Need OR discConfig-r12 SEQUENCE{ discRxResourcePool-r12ProseDiscResourcePool-r12, discIdleTxPool-r12 ProseDiscResourcePool-r12OPTIONAL -- Need OR } OPTIONAL, -- Need OR discInterFreqList-r12CarrierFreqList-r12 OPTIONAL, -- Need OR lateNonCriticalExtension OCTETSTRING OPTIONAL, ... } CarrierFreqList-r12 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxFreq)) OF ARFCN-ValueEUTRA-r9 -- ASN1STOP

SystemInformationBlockType18 field descriptions commIdleTxPool Indicatesthe resources by which the UE is allowed to perform direct communicationtransmissions while in RRC_IDLE. discInterFreqList Indicates theneighbouring frequencies on which direct discovery announcement issupported. discIdleTxPool Indicates the resources by which the UE isallowed to transmit direct discovery announcements while in RRC_IDLE.usePreconfigResInCoverageIf included indicates that the UE is allowed to use the preconfiguredresources in cell coverage. allowedTimethe UE may use usePreconfigResInCoverage until allowedTime. The valuems100 indicates 100 ms, ms200 indicates 200 ms and so on.timeToInitiateRRCConnEstTime within which the UE must start the RRC Connection EstablishmentProcedure i.e. initiate the PRACH access. ms01 indicates 1 ms, ms05indicates 5 ms and so on. The value ‘alreadyInitiated’ indicates that theUE can use the preconfigured-resources only after having initiated theRRC Connection Establishment Procedure i.e. upon having initiatedthe PRACH access

The important changes introduced into this exemplary system informationblock type 18 information element for the second aspect vis-à-vis theprior art are made bold and underlined for ease of identification.

As apparent from the above, the configuration information field“usePreconfigResInCoverage” is optional, such that when this field ispresent in the system information broadcast the UE can derive that thecorresponding preconfigured transmission radio resource pool (Mode 2resources) are available when in coverage; conversely, in the absence ofthis field, the UE derives that the corresponding preconfiguredtransmission radio resource pool is not available in the cell.

The configuration variables “allowedTime” and “timeToInitiateRRCConnEst”are as such already known from the first aspect discussed above, and aredefined for this second aspect in the same manner. As apparent from theabove example , these can be even defined at the same time, if sodecided by the eNB, thereby allowing to directly and/or indirectly limitthe amount of time the in coverage preconfigured transmission radioresource pool is usable. Thus, in this particular example part of theconfiguration information is implemented as the variable “allowedTime”,with exemplary time values of 100 ms, 200 ms, etc., as shown above, thusdirectly limiting the amount of time. By reading the value indicated bythe “allowedTime” variable, the terminal can determine for how long thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool is usable after thereception of the system information broadcast (or after the terminalstarts using resources from the temporary transmission radio resourcepool for performing a direct communication); a corresponding timer canbe set up, started and monitored by the UE.

Likewise, the configuration variable “timeToInitiateRRCConnEst” may beincluded so as to indirectly limit the usage of the temporarytransmission radio resource pool (i.e., commTxPoolTemp) based on thedifferent exit conditions as will be explained. By use of thisconfiguration variable timeToInitiateRRCConnEst, the UE is instructed totry establishing an RRC connection with the eNB, within an exemplarytime of 1, or 5 ms, etc., as shown above. Depending on the different UEbehavior, the UE could for example be then allowed to use the resourcesof the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool until the RRCconnection is established and the eNB assigns dedicated radio resourcesto the terminal; or until the UE realizes that the RRC connectionestablishment fails; or until the UE is informed by the eNB that it isnot permitted to perform direct communication in the cell; or untilactually performing a direct communication of the SA or data using thededicated resources assigned by the eNB to the UE.

Furthermore, it should be noted that while this second embodiment wasexplained as a standalone solution contrasting to the first embodiment,still in general this second embodiment can be combined with the firstembodiment.

Third Embodiment

In connection with D2D communication and the current development, theinventors have identified further problems. In more detail, apart fromthe above-described problem(s) regarding the different periods at whicha UE is prevented from performing D2D communication in the differentscenarios, another problem relates to state 3 and state 4 OOC UEs. Inparticular, it is yet unclear how a particular UE knows whether it is instate 3 (CP UE-relay) or in state 4. This leads to the further problemthat it is not clear for a UE what resources and transmission power itshould use to perform D2D communication.

FIG. 11 and the corresponding description of the background sectionexplain the 4 general states that a UE can be in which is summarized inthe following:

-   -   State 1: In Cell Coverage (IC)—very close to the cell center    -   State 2: In Cell Coverage (IC)—at the cell edge    -   State 3: Out of Cell Coverage—just outside the cell; these UEs        can create some WAN interference “if” transmitting on        conflicting resources with high transmit power    -   State 4: “Real” Out of Cell Coverage—cannot create any kind of        WAN interference even if transmitting on conflicting resources        with high transmit power

As apparent, in both states 3 and 4 the UE is out of coverage of thecell, but it is unclear how the UE can differentiate between states 3and state 4, since it only knows that it is not in cell coverage, i.e.,not camped on any WAN cell.

The following solution(s) is(are) possible.

If a UE receives PD2DSCH, it considers itself to be in State 3;otherwise, if a UE did not receive PD2DSCH for a certain predefined (orconfigurable) time, it considers itself in State 4. As explained in thebackground section, PD2DSCH is a physical layer information sent by theeNB to OOC (Out-of-Coverage) UEs via some IC UEs (IC UEs forward thePD2DSCH). PD2DSCH signals some resources for D2D communication. Ifreceived by OOC UEs, the resources received in the PD2DSCH for D2Dcommunication take priority over any preconfigured Mode 2 resourcesavailable to OOC UEs. This is advantageous, since otherwise the use ofthe preconfigured Mode 2 resources could create some WAN interference,because these UEs would consider themselves to be in State 4 otherwiseand might be transmitting on conflicting resources with high transmitpower.

A State 3 UE would consider itself to be a State 4 UE again, when itstops receiving PD2DSCH or D2DSS (D2D Synchronization Signal) for apredefined time period.

By specifying how the UE distinguishes between State 3 and State 4, theresources and transmission power it should use to perform D2Dcommunication is selectable/calculatable in an efficient manner so as tonot cause any problems (interference) with WAN communication.

It should be noted, that the third embodiment as explained above can becombined with the first and/or the second embodiment explained above.

Fourth Embodiment

Another problem identified for D2D communication is that it is unclearfrom the current standardization which UE is supposed to forward thePD2DSCH to OOC UEs.

The following alternative solutions are possible. Also combinations ofthe following are possible.

Generally, UEs that are well enough in cell coverage (e.g., good RSRPand RSRQ measurement values of the serving cell), but are not close tothe cell center, can be a good option for forwarding the PD2DSCH.Specifically, UEs that lie between a certain radio reception predefinedthreshold (e.g., for which the RSRP/RSRQ measurements lie between aparticular threshold “x” and threshold “y”); RSRP (Reference SignalReceived Power); RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality). In such acase, the threshold x and threshold y are broadcast together with thecontent of the PD2DSCH.

Another possible candidate to forward the PD2DSCH are UEs thattransmit/forward the D2DSS. The content of PD2DSCH is broadcast.

Another possible solution is that the network explicitly requestsparticular UEs in dedicated signaling to forward the PD2DSCH. Thecontent of PD2DSCH is broadcast or signaled to the UEs with dedicatedsignaling.

One possible combination of the above solutions is the UE that alreadyforwards the D2DSS, but also has a good enough in cell coverage, i.e.,where RSRP or RSRQ lie between corresponding thresholds.

It should be noted that the fourth embodiment can be used together witheither one of, or any combination of, the first, the second, and thethird embodiments.

Fifth Embodiment

Yet another problem identified for D2D communication is related to thereceiving/transmission operation for D2D communication. As mentioned inthe technical background section, depending on the resource allocationmode the D2D communication transmission operation looks a bit different.For Mode 1 D2D communication the eNB issues a D2D grant, i.e., (E-PDCCH)scrambled with D2D-RNTI, to the D2D transmitting UE, which allocatesresources for the SA transmission and also for the Data (ProSe/D2Ddata). More in particular, the D2D grant contains at least an index tothe SA resources (SA resource index), pointing to the time/frequencyresources to be used by the D2D transmitting UE for transmission of SAwithin the SA resource pool, and a T-RPT index and Data RB allocationfield which are basically indicating the time/frequency resources forthe D2D data transmissions. The T-RPT index field refers to one entry ina table which lists all available T-RPT patterns, e.g., the tablecontains 128 entries. A time resource pattern of transmission (T-RPTpattern) defines the time resource pattern of D2D data transmissionswithin the D2D data resource pool.

When receiving a D2D grant from the eNB, the D2D transmitting UE usesthe SA resource index in order to determine the subframes and thefrequency resources within the SA resource pool to be used for thetransmission respectively retransmission of the SA message. Further, theD2D transmitting UE uses at least the T-RPT index information receivedwithin the D2D grant in order to determine the subframes (andpotentially also the frequency resources based on some other informationconveyed in the D2D grant) to be used for the transmission of the D2Ddata PDUs. The function how to derive the subframes for thetransmissions of the D2D data PDUs differs for Mode 1 and Mode 2 D2Dtransmissions. For Mode 2 D2D transmissions, the D2D transmitting UEwill apply the T-RPT pattern to the subframes which are denoted as onesin the resource pool bitmap. Essentially, the D2D transmitting UEapplies the T-RPT pattern to those subframes which are defined aspotential D2D subframes for Mode 2 transmission according to the D2DMode 2 data transmission resource pool. An example is shown in the FIG.22

The 1s in the transmission resource pool bitmap denote the so-called D2Dsubframes, i.e., subframes reserved for D2D Mode 2 transmission. TheT-RPT pattern is applied to those D2D subframes. As can be seen in FIG.22, those D2D subframes where the corresponding T-RPT entry is 1 shallbe used for D2D data PDU transmissions (subframes where resource poolbitmap entry and T-RPT bitmap entry are both 1). As already mentioned inthe technical background, for Mode 2 resource allocation the D2Dtransmitting UE selects autonomously the T-RPT pattern and signals thisin the SA, so that D2D receiving UEs are able to determine (after havingdecoded the SA correctly) based on the received T-RPT pattern thetime/frequency resource of the D2D data transmissions. There is no D2Dgrant for Mode 2 D2D transmission.

For Mode 1 D2D transmissions the eNB allocates the T-RPT pattern to beused for D2D transmission and signals this to D2D transmitting UE bymeans of the D2D grant as already explained above.

Considering the absence of a D2D transmission resource pool for Mode 1,parameters in T-RPT would directly apply to the physical uplinksubframes since all uplink subframes can be D2D subframes. According toone exemplary embodiment, the D2D transmitting UE would apply the T-RPTpattern indicated by the T-RPT pattern index in the D2D grant to allsubframes in the resource pool bitmap, i.e., the subframes where thebitmap entry is 1 as well as 0. An example for the Mode 1 D2D datatransmission is shown in the FIG. 21.

As can be seen, the same T-RPT pattern as used in the exemplary scenarioillustrating Mode 2 D2D transmission is also taken here; however, forMode 1 it is applied to all (UL) subframes in the resource pool. Sincethere is no data transmission resource pool defined/configured for Mode1, the D2D transmitting UE could apply the T-RPT pattern either to theMode 2 data transmission pool or alternatively to a data receivingresource pool. The crucial point is that there needs to be somereference respectively starting subframe where the T-RPT pattern isapplied to for Mode 1. As an alternative there could be some timingrelation between first transmission of D2D data and SA predefined. Forexample the first D2D mode 1 data transmission opportunity, i.e., thisis the starting subframe of the T-RPT pattern, occurs x ms after thelast transmission of the SA message.

The T-RPT pattern is used differently depending on whether Mode 1 orMode 2 D2D data transmission is used by the D2D transmitting UE.Therefore, the D2D receiving UE should be able to distinguish betweenMode 1 and Mode 2

D2D transmissions. More in particular, when receiving an SA in the SAresource pool, the D2D receiving UE needs to be aware of whether the SAwas transmitted by a Mode 1 or Mode 2 D2D transmission in order to beable to interpret the T-RPT pattern correctly, i.e., in order todetermine the correct time/frequency resources of the corresponding D2Ddata transmissions. According to another exemplary embodiment, the SAmessage contains an explicit indicator of the used resource allocationmode for D2D communication, i.e., a new field in the SA messageindicates whether Mode 1 or Mode 2 was used for D2D data transmission.

As an alternative solution, the transmission/resource allocation mode isindicated implicitly by the T-RPT pattern signaled within the SAmessage. The available T-RPT patterns which are either preconfigured orgiven in a table are split into two sets, one set of T-RPT patterns isused for Mode 1 transmission, and the second set of T-RPT patterns isused for Mode 2. For example assuming 128 different T-RPT patterns, thepatterns 0-63 could be used for Mode 1 D2D transmissions, whereas T-RPTpatterns with an index 64-127 are reserved for Mode 2. Based on thereceived T-RPT index in the SA, the D2D receiving UE could understandwhether transmission UE is using resource allocation mode 1 or mode 2.

As a further alternative solution according to still another exemplaryembodiment, the transmission/resource allocation could be derived fromthe value of the TA field contained in the SA. Since Mode 1transmissions and Mode 2 transmissions use different transmissiontimings, the receiving UE could distinguish between Mode 1 and Mode 2transmissions based on the value of theta field. For example, the TAvalue for Mode 2 transmission is always zero, whereas for Mode 1 the TAvalue is set to the NTA value of the UE, i.e., UE uses legacy uplinktransmission timing for Mode 1 D2D transmissions.

As a further alternative, the resource allocation/transmission modecould be indicated implicitly by the frequency resources used for thetransmission of the SA message. For example, SA messages sent by Mode 2transmitting UEs are different to the frequency resources used for SAtransmissions of Mode 1 transmitting UEs. More in particular, the SAtransmission resource pool for Mode 2 is different to the resourcesassigned by eNB for SA transmissions (Mode 1).

Yet another alternative solution according to a further exemplaryembodiment of the disclosure is to define the T-RPT pattern bitmaplength in such a way, that there is no ambiguity between Mode 1 and Mode2 transmissions. More in particular, the T-RPT pattern bitmap lengthshould be the same as the resource pool bitmap length the T-RPT patternis applied to. Taken the examples shown in the FIG. 21 and FIG. 22discussed above, the T-RPT pattern length should be 30 bits.

Since the T-RPT pattern for both Mode 1 and Mode 2 is applied to thesame starting subframe, e.g., starting subframe of the resource pool,the D2D receiving UE does not need to distinguish between Mode 2 andMode 1 transmissions.

It should be noted that the firth embodiment can be used together witheither one of, or any combination of, the first, the second, the third,and the fourth embodiments.

Hardware and Software Implementation of the Present Disclosure

Other exemplary embodiments relate to the implementation of the abovedescribed various embodiments using hardware and software. In thisconnection a user equipment (mobile terminal) and an eNodeB (basestation) are provided. The user equipment and base station is adapted toperform the methods described herein.

It is further recognized that the various embodiments may be implementedor performed using computing devices (processors). A computing device orprocessor may for example be general purpose processors, digital signalprocessors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices,etc. The various embodiments may also be performed or embodied by acombination of these devices.

Further, the various embodiments may also be implemented by means ofsoftware modules, which are executed by a processor or directly inhardware. Also a combination of software modules and a hardwareimplementation may be possible. The software modules may be stored onany kind of computer readable storage media, for example RAM, EPROM,EEPROM, flash memory, registers, hard disks, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.

It should be further noted that the individual features of the differentembodiments may individually or in arbitrary combination be subjectmatter to another embodiment.

It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the present disclosure asshown in the specific embodiments. The present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and notrestrictive.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent applicationpublications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patentapplications and non-patent publications referred to in thisspecification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet areincorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of theembodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of thevarious patents, applications and publications to provide yet furtherembodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

1. A method for allocating radio resources to a transmitting terminalfor performing a direct communication transmission over a direct linkconnection to a receiving terminal in a communication system, the methodcomprising the following steps performed by the transmitting terminal:receiving from a base station a system information broadcast comprisinginformation on a temporary transmission radio resource pool, indicatingradio resources usable by those transmitting terminals receiving thesystem information broadcast for performing a direct communicationtransmission to a receiving terminal over a direct link connection, andconfiguration information on the temporary transmission radio resourcepool, the configuration information limiting the amount of time that thetemporary transmission radio resource pool is usable by the transmittingterminal.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmittingterminal selects radio resources from the temporary transmission radioresource pool and performs a direct communication transmission of eithera scheduling assignment or data to the receiving terminal using theselected radio resources, before the amount of time that the temporarytransmission radio resource pool is usable expires.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the configuration information on thetemporary transmission radio resource pool comprises: an allowed-timevariable indicating the amount of time that the temporary transmissionradio resource pool is usable either after the reception of the systeminformation broadcast or after the transmitting terminal starts usingthe temporary transmission radio resource pool, and/or a connectioninstruction variable indicating either the amount of time, after thereception of the system information broadcast or after the transmittingterminal starts using the temporary transmission radio resource pool,within which the transmitting terminal is required to initiate a radioconnection establishment procedure with the base station in case thetransmitting terminal is to use the temporary transmission radioresource pool for performing a direct communication transmission with areceiving terminal, or indicating that the transmitting terminal isrequired to initiate a radio connection establishment procedure with thebase station before using the temporary transmission radio resourcepool.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the transmittingterminal initiates the radio connection establishment procedure with thebase station by transmitting a preamble of a random access procedure. 5.The method according to claim 1, wherein the temporary transmissionradio resource pool is usable by the transmitting terminal in idle stateand in connected state.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein thetemporary transmission radio resource pool is usable by the transmittingterminal only until one of the following: the transmitting terminal isassigned by the base station with dedicated radio resources usable forperforming a direct communication transmission, the transmittingterminal performs a direct communication transmission for the first timeusing dedicated radio resources assigned by the base station to thetransmitting terminal, a radio connection establishment procedureinitiated by the transmitting terminal fails, the transmitting terminalis informed by the base station that the transmitting terminal is notpermitted to perform a direct communication in the cell of the basestation; preferably wherein the dedicated radio resources are radioresources selectable from an assigned transmitting radio resource pool,assigned to the transmitting terminal by the base station, or whereinthe dedicated radio resources are radio resources assigned to thetransmitting terminal by the base station in response to a resourcerequest from the transmitting terminal for a direct communicationtransmission.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temporarytransmission radio resource pool indicates a first set of radioresources usable for performing a direct communication transmission of ascheduling assignment to a receiving terminal over a direct linkconnection, the scheduling assignment indicating the radio resources tobe used by the transmitting terminal for performing a subsequent directcommunication transmission of data to the receiving terminal over thedirect link connection, and/or wherein the temporary transmission radioresource pool indicates a second set of radio resources usable forperforming a direct communication transmission of data to a receivingterminal over a direct link connection.
 8. The method according to claim1, wherein the system information broadcast additionally comprisesinformation on an idle transmission radio resource pool, or wherein thesystem information additionally comprises information indicating thatperforming direct communication with a receiving terminal over a directlink connection is permitted in the cell of the base station but doesnot comprise information on an idle transmission radio resource pool,wherein the idle transmission radio resource pool indicates radioresources usable by those transmitting terminals receiving the systeminformation broadcast for performing a direct communication transmissionto a receiving terminal over the direct link connection, and the idletransmission radio resource pool being usable only when the transmittingterminal is in an idle state.
 9. A transmitting terminal for performinga direct communication transmission over a direct link connection to areceiving terminal in a communication system, the transmitting terminalcomprising: a receiving section adapted to receive from a base station asystem information broadcast comprising information on a temporarytransmission radio resource pool, indicating radio resources usable bythose transmitting terminals receiving the system information broadcastfor performing a direct communication transmission to a receivingterminal over a direct link connection, and configuration information onthe temporary transmission radio resource pool, the configurationinformation limiting the amount of time that the temporary transmissionradio resource pool is usable by the transmitting terminal.
 10. Thetransmitting terminal according to claim 9, comprising: a processingsection adapted to select radio resources from the temporarytransmission radio resource pool, and a transmission section adapted toperform a direct communication transmission of either a schedulingassignment or data to the receiving terminal using the selected radioresources, before the amount of time that the temporary transmissionradio resource pool is usable expires.
 11. The transmitting terminalaccording to claim 9, wherein the configuration information on thetemporary transmission radio resource pool comprises: an allowed-timevariable indicating the amount of time that the temporary transmissionradio resource pool is usable either after the reception of the systeminformation broadcast or after the transmitting terminal starts usingthe temporary transmission radio resource pool, and/or a connectioninstruction variable indicating either the amount of time, after thereception of the system information broadcast or after the transmittingterminal starts using the temporary transmission radio resource pool,within which the transmitting terminal is required to initiate a radioconnection establishment procedure with the base station in case thetransmitting terminal is to use the temporary transmission radioresource pool for performing a direct communication transmission with areceiving terminal, or indicating that the transmitting terminal isrequired to initiate a radio connection establishment procedure with thebase station before using the temporary transmission radio resourcepool.
 12. The transmitting terminal according to claim 9, wherein thetemporary transmission radio resource pool is usable by the transmittingterminal only until one of the following: the transmitting terminal isassigned by the base station with dedicated radio resources usable forperforming a direct communication transmission, the transmittingterminal performs a direct communication transmission for the first timeusing dedicated radio resources assigned by the base station to thetransmitting terminal, a radio connection establishment procedureinitiated by the transmitting terminal fails, the transmitting terminalis informed by the base station that the transmitting terminal is notpermitted to perform a direct communication in the cell of the basestation; preferably wherein the dedicated radio resources are radioresources selectable from an assigned transmission radio resource pool,assigned to the transmitting terminal by the base station, or whereinthe dedicated radio resources are radio resources assigned to thetransmitting terminal by the base station in response to a resourcerequest from the transmitting terminal for a direct communicationtransmission.
 13. The transmitting terminal according to claim 9,wherein the system information broadcast additionally comprisesinformation on an idle transmission radio resource pool, or wherein thesystem information additionally comprises information indicating thatperforming direct communication with a receiving terminal over a directlink connection is permitted in the cell of the base station but doesnot comprise information on an idle transmission radio resource pool,wherein the idle transmission radio resource pool indicates radioresources usable by those transmitting terminals receiving the systeminformation broadcast for performing a direct communication transmissionto a receiving terminal over the direct link connection, and the idletransmission radio resource pool being usable only when the transmittingterminal is in an idle state.
 14. (canceled)
 15. A transmitting terminalfor performing a direct communication transmission over a direct linkconnection to a receiving terminal in a communication system, whereinthe transmitting terminal is preconfigured with a preconfiguredtransmission radio resource pool, indicating radio resources usable bythe transmitting terminal for performing the direct communicationtransmission to a receiving terminal over the direct link connection,wherein the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool is usablewhen the transmitting terminal is in coverage of a cell of a basestation.
 16. The transmitting terminal according to claim 15, whereinthe transmitting terminal comprises: a receiving section adapted toreceive from the base station a system information broadcast, indicatingwhether or not the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool isusable when in coverage of the cell of the base station.
 17. Thetransmitting terminal according to claim 16, wherein the systeminformation broadcast comprises configuration information on thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool for use in coverage ofthe cell of the base station in order to indicate that the preconfiguredtransmission radio resource pool is usable when in coverage of the cellof the base station, preferably wherein the configuration information onthe preconfigured transmission radio resource pool comprises: anallowed-time variable indicating the amount of time that thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool is usable either afterthe reception of the system information broadcast or after thetransmitting terminal starts using the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool, and/or a connection instruction variable indicatingeither the amount of time, after the reception of the system informationbroadcast or after the transmitting terminal starts using thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool, within which thetransmitting terminal is required to initiate a radio connectionestablishment procedure with the base station in case the transmittingterminal is to use the preconfigured transmission radio resource poolfor performing a direct communication transmission with a receivingterminal, or indicating that the transmitting terminal is required toinitiate a radio connection establishment procedure with the basestation before using the preconfigured transmission radio resource pool.18. The transmitting terminal according to claim 15, wherein thepreconfigured transmission radio resource pool is usable by thetransmitting terminal in coverage of the cell of the base station untilone of the following: the transmitting terminal is assigned by the basestation with dedicated radio resources usable for performing a directcommunication transmission, the transmitting terminal performs a directcommunication transmission for the first time using dedicated radioresources assigned by the base station to the transmitting terminal, aradio connection establishment procedure initiated by the transmittingterminal fails, the transmitting terminal is informed by the basestation that the transmitting terminal is not permitted to perform adirect communication in the cell of the base station, preferably whereinthe dedicated radio resources are radio resources selectable from anassigned transmitting radio resource pool, assigned to the transmittingterminal by the base station, or wherein the dedicated radio resourcesare radio resources assigned to the transmitting terminal by the basestation in response to a resource request from the transmitting terminalfor a direct communication transmission.
 19. The transmitting terminalaccording to claim 15, wherein the preconfigured transmission radioresource pool is also usable by the transmitting terminal when thetransmitting terminal is out of coverage of the cell of the basestation.
 20. The transmitting terminal according to claim 15, whereinthe preconfigured transmission radio resource pool is preconfigured by auniversal subscriber identity module, USIM, card inserted into thetransmitting terminal, or by a configuration message received in thetransmitting terminal from a layer higher than the access stratum,preferably by a internet protocol, IP, or non-access stratum, NAS,protocol.
 21. The transmitting terminal according to claim 15, whereinthe preconfigured transmission radio resource pool defines the physicalradio resources and optionally the transmission format and/or powercontrol associated with the physical radio resources.
 22. (canceled)